Spain reduces its population for the fifth consecutive year
The continued decline in the birth rate in Spain continues to show its results. Since 2012 this country began to see its population, a trend that continues today and that has repeated again in the past 2016. This is indicated by the data collected in the annual report of the Statistics National Institute, INE, and that collects the number of inhabitants who live in this nation.
Currently, 46.5 million people live in Spain, data that implies a decrease in the population for the fifth consecutive year. On this occasion, the decrease was 17,982 and the main reason has been the low arrival of immigrants in recent years and the low birth rates in this country.
Few communities go up
The loss of population is common to all Spanish territory. However, some autonomous communities have increased their neighbors as evidenced by the INE data. At the head of this group is the Madrid's community, which received 6,505 more individuals in 2016, causing an increase of 0.6%.
Attending to the Absolute values, Catalonia is in second position after increasing its population by 7,551 people, a growth of 0.4%. The Basque Country occupies the third position thanks to the 2,193 that were registered in this territory, an increase of 0.2%.
Andalusia It was the community that lost the most population during 2016, if absolute values are taken into account. Specifically, this territory saw 8,370 people abandon the register. The Valencian Community is the second positioned in the ranking of territories with greater decrease of neighbors with a reduction of 4,935 people in total.
Few young people in Spain
The data presented by the INE also make it clear that in Spain the population tends to age and shows the low number of births happened in this country during 2016. Only 15.9% of the inhabitants of this country are under 16 years old. For its part, the percentage of people over 65 is 28%. The average age of this nation is 42.9 years.
This situation is already being seen in other everyday aspects, such as the shopping basket of the Spaniards The items purchased by the Spanish in their day to day has changed and these have become healthier. The consumption of fruits has grown by 8.6% and that of vegetables by 4.5%. Articles that help people prevent heart disease and hypertension also appear more in the shopping cart.
At the same time, the purchase of products such as milk, less used by adults to not need this extra supply of calcium, has fallen. Similarly, other items such as hyaluronic acid or collagen. An answer to the fear of the elderly to lose mental or physical faculties due to the passing of the years, as well as a concern for their physical appearance that does not exist in those homes with children where the shopping basket focuses fully on the More smalls.
Damián Montero
