Birth Rate in 2010 Drops Dramatically in Spain
Population in Spain is ageing rapidly while the birth rate is the lowest in Europe. The lack of government benefits for families, the new abortion law, and the economic crisis are the main reasons.
Image via Wikipedia
According to the data released by the Spanish National Statistics Institute, in 2010 birth rate in Spain decreased 3.2%. Women choose to become mothers later in their lives, and the average rate of children per family is 1.4. Having a large family has become something outdated, nowadays, it is hard to find a family of 5 members or more. We could enumerate some of the factors that have affected the low birth rate, although many would argue that the main aspect is the profound economic crisis in Spain.
Lack of government support. There are hardly any government benefits for families with children, families receive a small sum lump when the first and second baby are born, and a little more when the third child arrives. Until this month, there was an extra bonus given by the government of 2.500 euros for every child born. Due to the financial crisis, the government is cutting social benefits and this has now disappeared. The maternity leave in Spain is 16 weeks, and after that, some women choose to shorten their working day and earn less money, or go back to work full-time. That really depends on the family financial situation. Families are discouraged and may postpone their plans to increase the family members.
New abortion law Under the new bill approved in July 2010, women can terminate an unwanted pregnancy without restriction up to 14 weeks, and up to 22 weeks under specific conditions. Sadly, abortion seems to be the easy way out for many women without family support, but there are many organisations like Fundacion madrina that help women to have their child and start a new life. On the other hand, we cannot forget that a large number of families in Spain are trying desperately to adopt a child. The process can take a few years and it is very costly. The majority of the families tend to go abroad to Russia or China where the waiting period to adopt is shorter. Small steps like encouraging women to keep their babies helping them financially during and after the pregnancy, and also making the adoption process more flexible and less costly in Spain, could improve the situation.
State of the economy. Spain is suffering one of the worst financial crisis ever, and in the mid-term the situation is not going to improve. More than 4 million people are out of work. In addition, low salaries in Spain make necessary that both parents work so they can pay the bills at the end of the month. People prefer to put off the family plans. We then find women in their 40’s trying to conceive when the fertility levels have already dropped considerably.
Spain is the fourth country worldwide with more old people. Nowadays, the elderly tend to live longer due to the improvement of medical assistance and the quality of life. This would be a positive fact if we had a higher birth rate. Spain is due to become a country made up of old people, something that will affect the Spanish economy, and consequently the prosperity of the country. Children are the future of any society, they are the future workers, those who will maintain the production system. Unfortunately, the government and the politicians have other interests in their agendas. The low birth rate in Spain should be considered very seriously but for some reason no one wants to talk about it.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Liked it
