‘With a birth rate estimated at 1.28 per woman – far below the replacement rate of 2.1 and one of the lowest in Europe – Spain’s population will fall (and age) dramatically over the coming years. According to Expatica: “By 2050, Spain will have only 30 million people – three quarters of its current population – as well as one of the oldest population profiles in the world”.
No matter how the current crisis around Ceuta and Melilla turns out, a people like the Spaniards, with so little commitment to their own future, will never have the strength to resist being overwhelmed by the burgeoning and desperate masses of the third world at their doorstep.’
Interesting facts in the first paragraph, but is this really about Spaniards having no commitment to their own future? I would say that it has more to do with new professional opportunities for women that disappear as soon as they try to integrate a large family into their working lives, and the fact that rising prices and mortgages make it very difficult to be able to afford to have more than one child these days. I’ll have to find out what the Spanish think about this…
Matt
18 Oct 05 at 4:28 am
Ben,
Interesting perspective. I know that when I lived in Toledo, my Spanish family always complained of the lack of job opportunities in Spain. I always got the feeling that Spaniards felt that work was hard to come by, and therefore many felt financially strained. I got this feeling despite the fact that my family was obviously one of the more affluent families in the community. Perhaps this is part of the reason that the birth rate is relatively low–there is a perception that a family cannot afford too many children.
When living in Spain, I always felt that Spaniards were still getting used to the reality of living in a capitalistic society as opposed to the dictatorship of Franco. After all, Spain’s economic development has only been progressing for about the last thirty years. Contrast this with the U.S.: everyone feels as though it is their right to own a home and have the finer things in life. I think it’s a difference in economic culture. Here in the States, we’ve had economic freedom for almost 250 years. Spain’s economic development is still in its infancy, relatively speaking.
I feel that as Spain continues to progress economically that these concerns will be assuaged. Spain will not “die out”. It’s too great of a country, with too much potential to become even greater.
- Matt
Pol
18 Oct 05 at 10:28 pm
I would say that blaming only on economic factors to explain the low birth-ratio in Spain would be the easy and the first explanation to come to mind.
In fact, the economic situation of Spaniards now (in terms of purchasing power, etc. etc…), has never been better than today and at the same time the birth-ratio has never been so low. Also, I’d like to point out that the average number of children per family is ever lower in the higher classes. Maybe it has to do with a change of collective mentality of the people. Anyway, a very complicated matter for a fast and simplistic answer.
Kristin
19 Oct 05 at 12:00 pm
I’m and American working in southern Spain, and taking Spanish lessons from a local tudor. My tudor, mother of two, was just telling me this morning its common for mothers here to marry in their late 20′s into their 30′s, and continue to work after having children, leaving childcare to grandparents. These grandmas even fix the large mid-day meal for the whole family, and host them for the few hours of rest or “siesta”.
This tells me that women want more than the roles of their mothers. I think there is definitely an air of ‘no rules’ since the dictatorship of Franco has ended.
Yet my tudor is very conservative and feels contrary- that her children (14 and 12 years old) are her responsibility. So she’s found work, tutoring people like me, from her home. She cooks and cleans after her own family.
I’d be interested to hear more views from other Spaniards!