The birth rate in Spain fell again during 2017
During the last years the birth in Spain, it has declined, causing the country to go through a situation it had not seen since the Civil War. The demographic winter has been installed in these borders and while the births are decreasing, the aging of the population is latent and the deaths have exceeded the births resulting in a vegetative balance.
This is shown in the survey of the Natural Movement of the Population prepared by the National Institute of Statistics, INE. A report where it is clear that the birth in Spain it has fallen again as in the previous years and giving rise to a negative vegetative balance.
Increase in deaths
The data that they offer from the INE indicate that in 2017 there were 391,930 births, data that translate into a decrease of 4,5%, that is, 18,653 less births. On the contrary, the number of deaths grew by 3.2%. In total Spain accounted for 31,245 deaths more than births.
In this way the vegetative balance of the population was in negative numbers with less 31,245. The INE stresses that Spain continues in the same situation that has been recorded since 2008, year in which the birth rate shifted to 519,779 births and since then the data went down, with slight upticks such as was observed in 2008
Other data offered by the INE is the decrease in number of children per woman. In 2017 there were 1.31 births per mother compared to 1.34 births in 2016. On the other hand, the average age of the first child also grew last year, going from 32 years to 32.1.
Also noteworthy is the increase in births of foreign mothers. If in 2016 this figure remained at 18.5% of the total, in 2017 this percentage remained at 19.3%, that is, 75,564 of the 391,930 accounted for in this report. The average number of children per woman was reduced three hundredths among Spanish women, to 1.25, and two hundredths among those from another country, to 1.70.
Descent in all communities
Is there any autonomous community where there has been an increase in births? The data from the INE make clear that no, in all the territories of Spain there has been a decrease in births, a trend that has been shown especially in areas such as the autonomous city of Melilla (-7.3%) or Castilla y León (-7,1%). Basque Country closes this podium with -6.5%.
Deaths have also followed a trend similar to that of the rest of the country. Of course, not all autonomous communities have recorded an increase in deaths, in this field Asturias has experienced a decrease of 0.4%. The greatest growth in deaths occurred in the autonomous city of Ceuta (9,8%), Balearic Islands (6.1%) and Aragon (5,1%).
The vegetative balance (births minus deaths) was negative in 11 communities and positive in the other six, same trend as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and melilla. The territories with the most negative vegetative balances were Galicia (-13,522), Castilla y León (-13.446) and the Principality of Asturias (-7.140).
On the other hand, the communities that registered the highest vegetative balances were Comunidad de Madrid (13,433), Región de Murcia (3,617) and Andalucía (3,337).
Damián Montero
