The birth rate in Spain is among the lowest in the world, according to statistics from the United Nations. In 2007, the nation’s rate of 10.8 births per 1,000 population placed it in the bottom quartile of all the countries listed. Even the People’s Republic of China, with its well-established family limitation policies, managed a birth rate 20 percent higher than Spain’s. And Barcelona’s 2007 birth rate was a fifth lower than Spain’s average, at 8.8 per 1,000 head of population, a rate that has been relatively stable over the last five years. Just to maintain its current population levels, Spain needs 2.1 births per fertile woman, but has only 1.3.
While the nation’s overall population has been increasing (from 36 to 45 million) in the last 25 years, its demographic profile has been shifting. There are now twice as many over-65s in Spain as there were just 10 years ago, and if current trends continue, the numbers of those that are economically active is estimated to reduce by 40 percent by 2050. This, in turn, will have a serious impact on the amount of social security payments being made to the national coffers.
The bottom line is that to achieve its social and economic goals (as well as to meet the increased costs of welfare and health services), Spain needs to boost the proportion of the population that pays taxes. The situation in both Barcelona and the nation could become even graver if the economic crisis seriously reduces the flow of immigrants, because without them birth rates would be even lower than they are. In fact, in 2003, immigrant groups accounted for one in seven of Barcelona’s births, and in 2007 accounted for one in five.
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