GREATER practical and financial help for parents is on the cards now that a new 'family law' has passed its second reading in the Council of Ministers, with extended maternity and paternity pay, protected time...
Foreign residents – Brits included - make up for falling birth rate
23/12/2018
NEW foreign residents moving to Spain mean the national population is rising once again – albeit slowly – despite having one of the lowest birth rates in history, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
And British nationals still make up a significant minority, even though official figures show there are now fewer of them in Spain.
For the first time in six years, the headcount rose rather than fell in the first quater of 2018 – the most recent period for which figures are available – although not quite breaking the 47 million barrier; the official total as at the end of March stood at 46,733,038, representing a year-on-year increase of 74,591, or 0.43%.
Reverse 'baby boom'
Fewer babies were born this year than in living memory – just 179,794, or an average of 1.3 per adult female of fertile age – meaning Spain is now in its third decade with a typical birth rate of fewer than 1.5 children per woman.
To ensure a population 'plateau', or as many people being born as dying and to guarantee sufficient taxpayers to fund pensions and keep public services running, the average needs to rise to 2.1 per female – a number not seen since 1981.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed earlier this year that by the time women in Spain are aged 35, a total of 70% of them do not have children; 90% of first-time mothers are aged between 35 and 40, and one in five are aged over 40, making Spain's new mums some of the oldest in Europe.
Obstacles to having children force birth rate down
Although the birth rate is in freefall, this is not because women in Spain do not want to have children: three-quarters of women aged 18 to 55 would like to have, or to have had, at least two kids, and among the over-30s, barely one in 10 does not ever want to be a mother.
Over a quarter, or 27% of women under 25 say they do not want to have kids, but the main reason they cite is that they feel too young, and accept this may change later in life.
The vast majority of those who want to have children and do not say the main factors are inability to afford to raise them, not having a partner to share parenting with, the impossibility of combining full-time work with child-rearing – and needing to work full time to have enough money to care for the child – and lack of State help.
In Spain, tax breaks of about €100 a month – retained at source, but refunded in annual declarations – are the only real State assistance for parents unless they are either a single mum or dad with at least two children, or a couple with at least three.
The main incentive to fertility the State could offer, quoted by women who want to have a child or have more children, is longer maternity and paternity leave – currently, this is four months for mums and a month for dads – and self-employed women say this should be on full pay for them, too, not just for salaried workers who receive 100% of their wages; at present, maternity pay for the self-employed totals around €600 a month.
Secondly, women in Spain say the State should force employers to provide more flexible working hours for mums and dads in order to encourage people to have kids.
And an overwhelming majority of women over 30 believe the State should provide incentives, especially financial, to those who want to become parents.
Overall, the average woman wants to have two children, and seven in 10 have fewer kids than they would like to – including, in an increasing number of cases, none at all.
Spain's High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) says central and regional governments 'need to reshuffle' the system to 'cut out the limitations' faced by those who would wish to have children, but cannot.
Immigration compensates for low natality
While the low birth rate would normally result in an ageing and shrinking population unable to sustain itself economically, immigration is what is keeping it afloat in Spain's case – and the country benefits from being one of the most cosmopolitan in Europe with many of its more densely-populated regions being home to as many as 130 or 140 nationalities.
In the first half of 2018, net migration into Spain was 121,564 – the result of 166,318 foreign residents leaving compared with 287,882 arriving – the highest in a decade.
Foreigners in Spain now total 4,663,726, or practically 10% of the population – the highest since January 2014.
And although some national groups have declined in number since the start of the financial crisis, net migration figures do not take into account those who have acquired Spanish nationality and would no longer be considered a 'foreign resident'.
Spain's migrants: Where they come from
Venezuelans are the national community which has increased the most in Spain in the past year – in fact, a sizeable proportion of asylum seekers are from the troubled South American country – with a hike of 20.6% as at the beginning of July 2018, bringing the total up to 109,880.
Colombians, who reduced in numbers during the financial crisis, are now among the fastest-growing communities with a rise of 10.5% in their headcount, and Italians have increased their presence by 4.4%.
In the previous six months, Venezuelans moving to Spain soared by 38.6%, whilst newcomers from Hondurás outstripped Colombians with a rise of 27.7%, and Brazilians were up by 7%.
The national group which has left the country in the highest proportion is Ecuadorian, with 3,205 fewer on record in Spain, or a reduction of 2.3% on the previous six months – although, as citizens of a former Spanish colony, Ecuadorians are able to apply for Spanish nationality within just two years of living in the country and are also entitled to hold dual citizenship, meaning many of these 3,205 may have simply 'become Spanish' rather than left.
This may also apply to British nationals, given that the Brexit referendum result has seen a spike in the number of UK citizens intending to apply for a Spanish passport; otherwise, Brexit, difficulty in making a living, grandchildren or the UK's more extensive elderly care system may have been among the reasons behind the decline in Brits in Spain.
Statistically fewer Brits – but still buying houses
British nationals were down by 1.5%, or 4,318, by the beginning of July compared with January this year.
But anecdotal evidence appears to support conflicting ideas: that Brits are buying fewer permanent or holiday homes in Spain due to the UK's looming departure from the European Union, and also that British buyers have now sharply increased in order to become settled residents or complete second home purchases whilst they remain EU citizens and it is easier and quicker to accomplish.
The exact number of British citizens resident in Spain is not clear, but is thought to be in region of a quarter of a million, which would mean they total around 5.3% of the foreign population in Spain or about 0.54% of the nation's headcount as a whole – only slightly larger than the Chinese community, who total around 216,000, and Italians, of whom about 210,000 have made Spain their home.
Moroccans continue to be the largest national community in Spain, thanks to their historical ties and geographical proximity – including two land borders – totalling about 770,000 or 14.9% of the foreigner population and outnumbering the Romanians, Spain's second-largest citizen group, by just under 100,000.
According to INE figures for the start of 2018, only one region – the land-locked western territory of Extremadura – experienced an increase in their foreign resident population in the previous year.
In terms of proportion, the Balearic Islands is the most cosmopolitan region in Spain, with 17.1% of its population being foreign, followed by Catalunya, where 14.2% are non-Spanish and Murcia, whose expat headcount totals 13.7%.
Extremadura, which lost 217 foreign residents in 2017, has the smallest percentage of non-Spaniards among its dwellers – just 2.9% - whilst expats in Galicia and Asturias account for a mere 3.4% and 3.9% of the community respectively.
In terms of pure numbers, the greatest increase in incoming foreigners up to the start of 2018 was seen in Catalunya, with a rise of 38,350 residents, followed by Madrid, with 29,730 extra, and the Comunidad Valenciana on the east coast, which welcomed another 18,683 non-Spanish citizens.
Swapping places: Spanish migrants flock to UK
Spaniards moving abroad are now in their lowest numbers in four years – a total of 40,858 left the country in the first half of this year, whilst another 39,166 returned to Spain from overseas, resulting in the lowest net emigration figure in a decade.
Whether or not Brexit is affecting Brits' decisions to move to Spain – negatively or positively – it seems Spaniards themselves are not unduly concerned with the UK's departure from the EU; GreatBritain remains the number one destination of choice for Spanish people opting to move abroad, with 21.7% of all nationals who left the country in the first six months of 2018 heading for UK shores.
No apparent spike in Spanish migrants opting for Britain has been seen following the referendum; the UK has always been the first choice for Spaniards seeking to live abroad, particularly when their decision is professionally-motivated.
France is the second-most popular target country for Spaniards, with 11.7% of emigrants hopping over the Pyrénéen border, and the USA is the third, with 8.3% of outgoing Spanish citizens crossing the pond for their new life.
Need for immigration is 'economic rather than demographic'
Researcher for Barcelona Autonomous University's faculty of demographic studies, Dr Pau Miret, believes immigration will continue to follow the upward trend started in 2016, compensating for emigration – a clear sign of economic recovery in Spain.
But although a falling birth rate leading to an ever-older population is a sound reason for any country needing immigration, Dr Miret says Spain's own migrant necessity is financial more than demographic.
“Whilst salaries in Spain remain among the lowest in Europe, immigrants willing to accept more precarious employment conditions characteristic of our national job market are going to continue to be essential,” Dr Miret admits.
But, as is nearly always the case in peacetime, a direct correlation between rising immigration and national economic improvement is very evident in Spain, meaning that for as long as the financial situation in the country continues to strengthen, foreign resident numbers will keep rising, concludes Dr Miret.
Fascinating facts about Spain's population
One in six 'towns' in Spain have fewer than 100 inhabitants, and around six in 10 have fewer than 1,000 residents. Of the former, the majority are in the provinces of Guadalajara, in Castilla-La Mancha (180), and Burgos (163) and Soria (116) in Castilla y León.
Four in 10 residents in Spain live in towns or cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which total just 63 out of more than 8,000. Of these largest municipalities, 12 are in Andalucía, 11 in Catalunya and 10 in the Greater Madrid region. At the opposite end of the scale, one in five residents in Spain live in villages with a headcount of less than 10,000.
For the first time in Spain's history, the average age of a person living there has broken the 43-year-old barrier – 43.1 years, to be precise. This is the mean average, or the combined age of the country's entire population divided by number of inhabitants, rather than the being the most common age of a Spanish resident. It has been rising progressively from an average of 39 years and 11 months at the turn of the Millennium, although clearly, does not relate to the same community of people – those of exactly the average age at the turn of this century would have been born in February 1960; those of average age as at January 2018 would have been born in December 1974.
Nearly one in five residents in Spain – 19.1% - is now aged over 65, a figure that has shot up from 16.5% a decade ago. Yet, although this would have translated as one in five being 'elderly' some 30 or 40 years ago, 'over 65' is a very wide category which can, in reality, span over 50 years: last year, the oldest man and woman in Spain, and in the world, were aged 113 and 116 respectively. Pensions experts say yesterday's 65-year-olds are the equivalent of today's 89-year-olds, and the United Nations now qualifies adolescents as aged 10 to 24, young adults as between 18 and 65, middle-aged adults as 66 to 79 inclusive, and 'elderly' as 80 and over. In terms of strain on public services, being over 65 is very different in the late 2010s to in the 1970s; most adults in their 60s and 70s continue to be very active and healthy. However, in financial terms, the increasing percentage of over-65s is indeed a concern: the ratio of retirees to those of working age is much higher, meaning greater pressure on the pension pot. Although the next few years will see a typical 65-year-old still being an active member of the working population, since State retirement age is progressively rising to 67.
Related Topics
NEW foreign residents moving to Spain mean the national population is rising once again – albeit slowly – despite having one of the lowest birth rates in history, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
And British nationals still make up a significant minority, even though official figures show there are now fewer of them in Spain.
For the first time in six years, the headcount rose rather than fell in the first quater of 2018 – the most recent period for which figures are available – although not quite breaking the 47 million barrier; the official total as at the end of March stood at 46,733,038, representing a year-on-year increase of 74,591, or 0.43%.
Reverse 'baby boom'
Fewer babies were born this year than in living memory – just 179,794, or an average of 1.3 per adult female of fertile age – meaning Spain is now in its third decade with a typical birth rate of fewer than 1.5 children per woman.
To ensure a population 'plateau', or as many people being born as dying and to guarantee sufficient taxpayers to fund pensions and keep public services running, the average needs to rise to 2.1 per female – a number not seen since 1981.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed earlier this year that by the time women in Spain are aged 35, a total of 70% of them do not have children; 90% of first-time mothers are aged between 35 and 40, and one in five are aged over 40, making Spain's new mums some of the oldest in Europe.
Obstacles to having children force birth rate down
Although the birth rate is in freefall, this is not because women in Spain do not want to have children: three-quarters of women aged 18 to 55 would like to have, or to have had, at least two kids, and among the over-30s, barely one in 10 does not ever want to be a mother.
Over a quarter, or 27% of women under 25 say they do not want to have kids, but the main reason they cite is that they feel too young, and accept this may change later in life.
The vast majority of those who want to have children and do not say the main factors are inability to afford to raise them, not having a partner to share parenting with, the impossibility of combining full-time work with child-rearing – and needing to work full time to have enough money to care for the child – and lack of State help.
In Spain, tax breaks of about €100 a month – retained at source, but refunded in annual declarations – are the only real State assistance for parents unless they are either a single mum or dad with at least two children, or a couple with at least three.
The main incentive to fertility the State could offer, quoted by women who want to have a child or have more children, is longer maternity and paternity leave – currently, this is four months for mums and a month for dads – and self-employed women say this should be on full pay for them, too, not just for salaried workers who receive 100% of their wages; at present, maternity pay for the self-employed totals around €600 a month.
Secondly, women in Spain say the State should force employers to provide more flexible working hours for mums and dads in order to encourage people to have kids.
And an overwhelming majority of women over 30 believe the State should provide incentives, especially financial, to those who want to become parents.
Overall, the average woman wants to have two children, and seven in 10 have fewer kids than they would like to – including, in an increasing number of cases, none at all.
Spain's High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) says central and regional governments 'need to reshuffle' the system to 'cut out the limitations' faced by those who would wish to have children, but cannot.
Immigration compensates for low natality
While the low birth rate would normally result in an ageing and shrinking population unable to sustain itself economically, immigration is what is keeping it afloat in Spain's case – and the country benefits from being one of the most cosmopolitan in Europe with many of its more densely-populated regions being home to as many as 130 or 140 nationalities.
In the first half of 2018, net migration into Spain was 121,564 – the result of 166,318 foreign residents leaving compared with 287,882 arriving – the highest in a decade.
Foreigners in Spain now total 4,663,726, or practically 10% of the population – the highest since January 2014.
And although some national groups have declined in number since the start of the financial crisis, net migration figures do not take into account those who have acquired Spanish nationality and would no longer be considered a 'foreign resident'.
Spain's migrants: Where they come from
Venezuelans are the national community which has increased the most in Spain in the past year – in fact, a sizeable proportion of asylum seekers are from the troubled South American country – with a hike of 20.6% as at the beginning of July 2018, bringing the total up to 109,880.
Colombians, who reduced in numbers during the financial crisis, are now among the fastest-growing communities with a rise of 10.5% in their headcount, and Italians have increased their presence by 4.4%.
In the previous six months, Venezuelans moving to Spain soared by 38.6%, whilst newcomers from Hondurás outstripped Colombians with a rise of 27.7%, and Brazilians were up by 7%.
The national group which has left the country in the highest proportion is Ecuadorian, with 3,205 fewer on record in Spain, or a reduction of 2.3% on the previous six months – although, as citizens of a former Spanish colony, Ecuadorians are able to apply for Spanish nationality within just two years of living in the country and are also entitled to hold dual citizenship, meaning many of these 3,205 may have simply 'become Spanish' rather than left.
This may also apply to British nationals, given that the Brexit referendum result has seen a spike in the number of UK citizens intending to apply for a Spanish passport; otherwise, Brexit, difficulty in making a living, grandchildren or the UK's more extensive elderly care system may have been among the reasons behind the decline in Brits in Spain.
Statistically fewer Brits – but still buying houses
British nationals were down by 1.5%, or 4,318, by the beginning of July compared with January this year.
But anecdotal evidence appears to support conflicting ideas: that Brits are buying fewer permanent or holiday homes in Spain due to the UK's looming departure from the European Union, and also that British buyers have now sharply increased in order to become settled residents or complete second home purchases whilst they remain EU citizens and it is easier and quicker to accomplish.
The exact number of British citizens resident in Spain is not clear, but is thought to be in region of a quarter of a million, which would mean they total around 5.3% of the foreign population in Spain or about 0.54% of the nation's headcount as a whole – only slightly larger than the Chinese community, who total around 216,000, and Italians, of whom about 210,000 have made Spain their home.
Moroccans continue to be the largest national community in Spain, thanks to their historical ties and geographical proximity – including two land borders – totalling about 770,000 or 14.9% of the foreigner population and outnumbering the Romanians, Spain's second-largest citizen group, by just under 100,000.
According to INE figures for the start of 2018, only one region – the land-locked western territory of Extremadura – experienced an increase in their foreign resident population in the previous year.
In terms of proportion, the Balearic Islands is the most cosmopolitan region in Spain, with 17.1% of its population being foreign, followed by Catalunya, where 14.2% are non-Spanish and Murcia, whose expat headcount totals 13.7%.
Extremadura, which lost 217 foreign residents in 2017, has the smallest percentage of non-Spaniards among its dwellers – just 2.9% - whilst expats in Galicia and Asturias account for a mere 3.4% and 3.9% of the community respectively.
In terms of pure numbers, the greatest increase in incoming foreigners up to the start of 2018 was seen in Catalunya, with a rise of 38,350 residents, followed by Madrid, with 29,730 extra, and the Comunidad Valenciana on the east coast, which welcomed another 18,683 non-Spanish citizens.
Swapping places: Spanish migrants flock to UK
Spaniards moving abroad are now in their lowest numbers in four years – a total of 40,858 left the country in the first half of this year, whilst another 39,166 returned to Spain from overseas, resulting in the lowest net emigration figure in a decade.
Whether or not Brexit is affecting Brits' decisions to move to Spain – negatively or positively – it seems Spaniards themselves are not unduly concerned with the UK's departure from the EU; GreatBritain remains the number one destination of choice for Spanish people opting to move abroad, with 21.7% of all nationals who left the country in the first six months of 2018 heading for UK shores.
No apparent spike in Spanish migrants opting for Britain has been seen following the referendum; the UK has always been the first choice for Spaniards seeking to live abroad, particularly when their decision is professionally-motivated.
France is the second-most popular target country for Spaniards, with 11.7% of emigrants hopping over the Pyrénéen border, and the USA is the third, with 8.3% of outgoing Spanish citizens crossing the pond for their new life.
Need for immigration is 'economic rather than demographic'
Researcher for Barcelona Autonomous University's faculty of demographic studies, Dr Pau Miret, believes immigration will continue to follow the upward trend started in 2016, compensating for emigration – a clear sign of economic recovery in Spain.
But although a falling birth rate leading to an ever-older population is a sound reason for any country needing immigration, Dr Miret says Spain's own migrant necessity is financial more than demographic.
“Whilst salaries in Spain remain among the lowest in Europe, immigrants willing to accept more precarious employment conditions characteristic of our national job market are going to continue to be essential,” Dr Miret admits.
But, as is nearly always the case in peacetime, a direct correlation between rising immigration and national economic improvement is very evident in Spain, meaning that for as long as the financial situation in the country continues to strengthen, foreign resident numbers will keep rising, concludes Dr Miret.
Fascinating facts about Spain's population
One in six 'towns' in Spain have fewer than 100 inhabitants, and around six in 10 have fewer than 1,000 residents. Of the former, the majority are in the provinces of Guadalajara, in Castilla-La Mancha (180), and Burgos (163) and Soria (116) in Castilla y León.
Four in 10 residents in Spain live in towns or cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which total just 63 out of more than 8,000. Of these largest municipalities, 12 are in Andalucía, 11 in Catalunya and 10 in the Greater Madrid region. At the opposite end of the scale, one in five residents in Spain live in villages with a headcount of less than 10,000.
For the first time in Spain's history, the average age of a person living there has broken the 43-year-old barrier – 43.1 years, to be precise. This is the mean average, or the combined age of the country's entire population divided by number of inhabitants, rather than the being the most common age of a Spanish resident. It has been rising progressively from an average of 39 years and 11 months at the turn of the Millennium, although clearly, does not relate to the same community of people – those of exactly the average age at the turn of this century would have been born in February 1960; those of average age as at January 2018 would have been born in December 1974.
Nearly one in five residents in Spain – 19.1% - is now aged over 65, a figure that has shot up from 16.5% a decade ago. Yet, although this would have translated as one in five being 'elderly' some 30 or 40 years ago, 'over 65' is a very wide category which can, in reality, span over 50 years: last year, the oldest man and woman in Spain, and in the world, were aged 113 and 116 respectively. Pensions experts say yesterday's 65-year-olds are the equivalent of today's 89-year-olds, and the United Nations now qualifies adolescents as aged 10 to 24, young adults as between 18 and 65, middle-aged adults as 66 to 79 inclusive, and 'elderly' as 80 and over. In terms of strain on public services, being over 65 is very different in the late 2010s to in the 1970s; most adults in their 60s and 70s continue to be very active and healthy. However, in financial terms, the increasing percentage of over-65s is indeed a concern: the ratio of retirees to those of working age is much higher, meaning greater pressure on the pension pot. Although the next few years will see a typical 65-year-old still being an active member of the working population, since State retirement age is progressively rising to 67.
Related Topics
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