In 1960 each Spanish woman had throughout her life almost three children. Today They do not reach 1.2. The data is just that: data, demographic means, pure statistical mathematics, but they serve to understand better trends that are every time more present in homes of homes. As I know Birth sinkslife expectancy and Families changeSpain meets A new reality: The first “without children” generations look at old age with the challenge of facing that last vital stage without offspring. No children. Neither grandchildren.
The big question is … why? And what does it imply?
Figure issue. Spanish demography (like that of Other other countriesinside and out of the West) It is changing. A lot. And fast. In fact it has been doing it for a long time. If we review the fertility index we find that It has collapsed Throughout the last decades: of 2.94 children per woman in 1967 we have gone to 1.12. And going down. Translated into babies that supposes that today they are born in Spain less than half that in him Baby Boom.
The trend has been the opposite among people who live alone. At least over the last years. If in 2014 the unipersonal households supposed 24% of the total From the census, six years later they were already 26%. Another reality is those who live in a couple but choose to do it without offspring. In 2020 the INE counted near four million of homes with that profile, two out of ten.
Generations without children. A few months ago the CIS contributed an even more interesting approach. Its technicians They asked to people born over the last decades if they had children and found themselves with which the percentage of ‘Sies’ fell clearly as the age of the interviewees did.
It is a predictable trend among younger respondents, under 34, but the study reflects something else: among cohorts with more advanced ages, which are already peeling retirement, there is also a considerable percentage of people without offspring.
And to show a button. If 89% of people of 75 or more years had children, that percentage went to 81.5%Among the interviewees from 55 to 64 years. If we go to the fork from 35 to 44 years the proportion drops even more, to 62%, and if we descend even more, focusing on the population between 25 and 34 years, we find that only 32% of respondents have had at least one offspring.
Why is it important? Because as I pointed out recently The Spanish newspaper (EPE) in An analysis On that same phenomenon, the data of the CIS show us that Spain is at the gates of a demographic milestone: the arrival in the old -generation old age in which a relevant percentage of people has chosen to have no offspring. According to the CISin the age strip from 55 to 64 years they represent 18.5%.
“The ghost of old age without children”. Between that 18.5% of people without offspring, such as I confessed recently A couple in the fifty to EPE, there are those who already contemplate with concern to the “ghost of old age without children.” That is, the perspective of becoming greater or becoming dependent without children or grandchildren who, if necessary, can serve as a network.
“It seems that you are always going to be autonomous, but the aging is noticeable year after year and seeing it in your elders causes restlessness because having children does not mean that no one will take care of you, but you can have support, at least someone to call,” Write The same couple. They now have octogenarian parents who need help and “someone for everything.” “What would they do without their children?”
Marking the way. 18.5% may seem a reduced percentage yet, but THE STUDY OF THE CIS It is interesting for something else: it suggests that this scenario of ‘old age without children’ will be increasingly common. Among the interviewees of 45 to 54 years the percentage of those who claim to have no offspring represents 21.3% and between the people aged 25 and 44 touches 36-66%. Maternity It has been delaying With the passing of the decades and today it is located in almost 33 yearswith what the logical thing would be for these percentages to soften, but still the trend is clear.
THE CIS Confirm In addition, another reality that institutions such as the INE have been drawing for a long time: many of the couples who have been parents have had a single descendant, so the support they can receive in their old age will depend on a single child.
It comes to review two figures to understand it: among those over 75 years of age the percentage of people with children who claim to have had more than a offspring reaches 90.3%. Among the interviewees of 55 to 64 years that same proportion already collapses to 73.5%.
A complex reality. The big question arriving at this point is … Why do the Spaniards have fewer children than a few decades ago or do we even opt for not having them? The answer is complex and adds multiple factors, including cultural, labor and social changes, but a few months ago the CIS reflected Another factor Same relevant: the economic one.
According to your polls, 77.3% Of the Spaniards believe that people have no children “due to lack of economic means.” 44.1% indicate another cause that goes along the same lines: “Conciling problems” work and professional life. Moreover, the research center states that 59% of respondents who have not been parents recognize that they would have liked to be.
“Create support networks”. The other question that remains by throwing is … What will this increase in people who reach old age without children or grandchildren? Will it translate into greater pressure for public coffers? The problem is not exclusive to Spain. Other countries (Even in Asia) They also face the challenge of seeing how their demographic pyramid is widened at its upper edge as the aging population increases and the birth crisis is exacerbated.
With that backdrop they have emerged different formulas that seek to clothe older people. For example, the system of Collaborative homesthe famous senior cohousingwhich basically proposes to create spaces in which its users can enjoy independent homes while sharing the expenses of certain, such as nursing, driver or cleaning. The idea is to be An alternative to traditional residences. Some experts They advocate for “investing and creating support networks” with a view to old age.
Images | Huy Phan (Unspash), Matt Bennett (UNSPLASH) and CIS
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