The Spanish population grows for the first time since 2011
The latest data referred to population in Spain they were not good at all. The trend in these years has been the decrease in the birth rate and an increase in emigration. A situation that has ended up causing this country to lose members, even to present more deaths than births, a situation that was not experienced since the Civil War.
But the latest data from Statistics National Institute, INE, point out that this trend was broken in 2016. These numbers show how for the first time since 2011, this country increased its population instead of losing it. A situation that mainly responds to the migratory movements and not to the increase of the birth rate, a subject that is still pending in this country.
Increase of the Spaniards
During 2016, the Spanish population increased by 21,9%. An increase that responds mainly to the increase in immigration and not to the increase in the birth rate. It has also helped this situation that the number of people who left the country dropped by 4%. Thanks to this, the migratory balance of this nation has been positive, reaching 89,126 individuals.
The latest data from the INE situate in 46.5 million of people the inhabitants of Spain. A slight increase of 0.19% of the population of this country. Although we must also bear in mind that these figures only have an account for those citizens who, when arriving abroad, inform the consular offices and embassies of Spain of this new situation.
In addition, it should be noted that the birth data continue to maintain its downward trend and in a few cases generational relief is guaranteed, having at least two children. This problem is the one that should be resolved more quickly since births are the most effective, in the long term, to the population.
More births are needed
Break the downward trend of the births It is very important for the future of Spain. That the new generations are reduced have greater consequences than the reduction of the population in this country such as the danger of pensions for many people today.
The data of the Institute of Family Policy, IPF, explain that the current birth rate in Spain does not guarantee the generational change since for this to occur the birth rate must be at least 2.1 and within our borders is 1.32. This places our country in the tail of Europe in terms of birth rate since the IPF indicates that we occupy the penultimate place along with Portugal.
The IPF data explain that for generational change to take place in Spain, it would have to occur 260,000 more births at the end of the year, which means that today there should be 719 more births than there are today.
To reverse these trends, these tips could help:
- Define the content of the family perspective.
- Give the family its importance in the development agenda.
- Consider the relationship between family and sustainable development.
- Define the indicators that allow measuring the family impact of a standard through the corresponding report.
- Promote the increase of power of families through public aid policies.
- Recommend measures that avoid the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
- Promote policies that favor the reconciliation of work and family, as well as the co-responsibility of both parents.
- Establish concerts with civil society organizations, private sector and academic institutions to investigate what really works.
Damián Montero
