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South Korea has had the most catastrophic birth rate in the world for years. And now it has finally managed to grow

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For a few years now, talking about demographics in South Korea has made it necessary to first take out a clinex package. Despite all his attempts (and there have been not a few) the country seemed condemned to suffer an uncontrollable ‘bleed’ of birth rates and see the seams of its economy tighten. It may sound exaggerated, but it is good to remember that he said goodbye to 2024 by declaring “super aged” and that there are academics who warn that the nation is emptying (literally). With that backdrop, Seoul has started 2026 with a positive fact: wins babies. And it also does so for the second consecutive year. The big question that arises now is… Are we facing a change in trend or just a mirage? The figure: 254,457. It is provisional data (the definitio will not arrive until the summer), but even so it has arrived like manna in a country accustomed to every piece of news about demographics involving a national drama. Last year South Korea registered 254,457 birthsa good balance no matter where you look at it. To begin with because it means 6.8% more that in 2024 and leaves the largest percentage increase since 2007; but those are only two of the possible readings. More babies per woman. Another interesting reading is the one that tells us about the “fertility rate”, the average number of babies that (at a statistical level) a woman is expected to have throughout her reproductive life. A few years ago that indicator plummeted to 0.72very far from the “replacement rate” (2.1 children per woman) that allows societies to remain stable. The data is still below that red line, but at least it has grown: in 2025 it passed from 0.75 to 0.8. Not only that. Reuters remember that the South Korean Government had optimistic estimates that suggested that this rate would grow to 0.75 in 2025 and 0.8 in 2026, which appears to be recovering positions faster than expected. In Seoul the trend is even more pronounced. There the indicator rose 8.9%, going from 0.53 to 0.63. The data is still very poor and they are far away to solve the problem that Korea has, but they suggest a change of cycle. Breaking the bad streak. That the birth rate is increasing in South Korea is news, but it is even more so if (as is the case) that growth is maintained for two years. In 2024 the country has already registered a positive fact (breaking up with eight exercises of consecutive falls) that now invites us to think about whether it has really found the right way to encourage its young people to have more offspring. Of course, the country has invested time, efforts and especially economic resources in that objective, in which it is played from the social sustainability and the march of his industry to issues as relevant as national defense. More weddings, more babies. 2025 has not only been a good year in maternity hospitals. It has also been for the wedding planners. Marriages increased by 8.1% in 2025, reinforcing the 14.8% rebound already recorded in 2024. This is good news because, in a conservative society like South Korea (the percentage of births outside of marriage It’s surprisingly low.), weddings are often considered an early indicator of a rebound in birth rates. Trend or mirage? That’s the million dollar question. That South Korea has been trying to activate its birth rate for years is undeniable, as is the fact that it has invested large resources in this effort and that they have been involved in the effort since the public institutions to the business world. However, there are other factors at play that suggest that the recent growth in the South Korean birth rate could be more circumstantial than structural. That is to say, in reality we would be facing a kind of demographic ‘mirage’. The hangover of the pandemic. When explaining the phenomenon, there are those who point to the influence of the pandemic. Not so much in the birth rate itself as in marriages. It is true that more South Koreans are getting tired and that this indicator will probably influence the birth rate in the coming years, but it is also true that many couples had to postpone their plans during the pandemic. “The number of marriages has increased for 21 consecutive months, from April 2024 to December last year, as couples who had delayed their marriages due to COVID-19 have tied the knot,” recognize Park Hyun-jung, director of the government office that analyzes population trends. He himself admits that today it is very difficult to establish a clear “correlation” between government policies and improved birth rates. A demographic with ‘echo’. There are those who point out, however, another factor that would be directly influencing South Korean demographics: history. The explanation I broke it down Rapahel Rashid recently in Guardian and provides an alternative theory. More babies have been born in the South Korea of ​​2024 or 2025 simply because the same thing already happened in the Korea of ​​30 years ago. To be more precise, more or less during the first half of the 1990s (1991-1995) there was a peak of around 3.6 million of babies who today enter their thirties and begin to become parents themselves. Reviewing history. We explain ourselves. Paradoxical as it may be, in the 1950s and 1960s Korea had a very different problem than today: a very high fertility rate which led authorities to launch family planning programs. The objective: guarantee the country’s recovery after the war. The message that was launched was very simple: have fewer children (two, one) and guarantee them a better life. It worked so well that by the early 1980s the fertility rate had fallen below the replacement margin and Seoul decided change course. By doing so, it favored the rebound that would now be heating up the birth rate. According to that theory, what we see today is actually a … Read more

China has done everything to stop its population bleeding. The result is the lowest birth rate since 1949

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China has encountered an even more complex challenge than the real estate crisis, the trade war with the US or the future of Taiwan: the babies. As your birth rate deflates (leaving the number of newborns below the number of deaths) the Asian giant is becoming less and less “giant”, a trend that threatens to punish the nation’s economy. Beijing knows it and that is why it takes time deploying measures that seek to boost their demographics. The problem is that, despite his many efforts, he can’t hit the nail on the head. Your latest official data birth rates show a new setback. What has happened? That despite all its efforts, China has not been able to stop its demographic hemorrhage. This is how it reveals the last balance from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), which shows a scenario similar to that suffered by other nations (inside and outside Asia) shaken by demographic winter: fewer babies, more deaths and general population decline. In short: a country that continues to lose weight little by little and risks complying UN predictionswhich estimates that by 2100 China will have lost more than half of its population, remaining at the size it had in the late 1950s. What does the data say? That in 2025 the authorities counted 7.92 million of births, 17% less than the previous year. The data leaves two other negative readings: the first is that it suggests that the birth rate increase registered in 2024 was punctual and has not been consolidated over time. After that brief rebound (which some associate to the cultural influence of ‘Year of the Dragon’) the Chinese birth rate has resumed the negative curve that it has been drawing for years. The second negative reading is that the decrease in the number of births has in turn reduced the country’s birth rate, leaving it in 5.63 births per 1,000 people. This is a historic low. A fact that has not been seen since (at least) 1949, year of foundation of the People’s Republic of China. It is about the steepest drop birth rate for the last five years. As AP News recallsChinese authorities do not regularly publish their fertility rate, but their last estimate, from 2020, was 1.3 children per woman. Now that indicator would have dropped to 1. The data is far from the “replacement rate” (2.1), essential to keep a country’s population stable. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Are there more figures? Yes. And they are just as bad. Deaths increased, going from 10.93 million registered in 2024 to 11.31 in 2025. The result of this drop in birth rates and increase in deaths was a natural loss of population (the data does not allude to the migratory effect) that brings China even closer to the projections of the United Nations by the end of the century. The NBS balance sheet reflects the loss of some 3.39 million of Chinese, leaving the country’s total population at around 1,405 million. It is the fourth consecutive year in which the country sees its population reduced, which has caused China to no longer be the most populous nation on the planet: from 2023 that honor India boasts itwhich comfortably exceeds the 1.4 billion of people. Why is it important? Birth rate and census are more than just demographic variables. They also influence the future of the country. The size of the population is directly related, for example, to domestic consumption (key piece in the country’s economy) or the health of its workforce. The demographic winter threatens to subject China to the same social pressures as other countries in Asia and the West, only on a much larger scale. Right now the population over 60 years old represents 23%. If nothing changes, in 2035 that strip will add 400 million of people, just like the entire population of the US and Italy combined. The big question is how that will affect their pension system. At the moment the country already has increased the retirement age. How to change it? That is the other reason why the NBS data is so important and has probably fallen like a bucket of cold water on Beijing. It’s not just about fewer babies being born and population being lost, it’s that the Government has been looking for a way to avoid it for some time… without success, at least until now. As far as birth rates are concerned, it seems to have hit the same rock as other neighboring nations that face a similar challenge, like japan either South Korea. What have you tried? Of everything. And without much success. Despite the billions of dollars invested in child care programs, the facilities offered to those considering becoming parents (from subsidies to medical attention) and efforts to form new couplesthe birth rate continues without increasing. And the Chinese authorities have gone to the extreme of go door to door encouraging women to be mothers. The reason? Beyond the influence of ‘one child’ policy (abandoned a decade ago) there are those who point to cultural changes and the high cost that (despite everything) parenthood entails in China. A 2024 report from the YuWan Population Research Institute in fact concluded that China is one of the most expensive places to raise children (especially if we talk about cities), even more than in Japan or the United States in relative terms. The study addressed both direct and opportunity costs. Image | Peijia Li (Unsplash) In Xataka | China knows that its population is going to collapse but it already has a long-term plan to solve it. Of course, thanks to AI

Spain needs to modernize its electrical grid, so the remuneration rate has increased. The effect will be noticeable in the next five years

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Until now we have observed the electricity bill as has increased after the April blackout. But this time the focus is not on the receipt, but on a silent decision that the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has just made and that will determine how much it will cost to keep the light on in the next five years. Piecemeal. The CNMC has sent to the Council of State the circulars that establish how the transport and distribution of electricity is remunerated between 2026 and 2031, the so-called “network business”: the towers, cables and transformation centers that make it possible for energy to reach homes, factories and hospitals. The technical detail is a figure: 6.58%. This new percentage – up from 5.58% – is, according to the regulator, an update that better reflects current financial conditions, after a period of rising interest rates. However, the measure is far from the 7% or 7.5% requested by the large electricity companies grouped in Aelec (Iberdrola, Endesa, EDP and Naturgy) and that the small distributors represented by CIDE also claimed. And in the pocket? Good question. These circulars, which will come into force on January 1, 2026 if the Council of State does not introduce changes, define the remuneration criteria for the entire period 2026–2031. In the short term, the increase will not be directly noticeable on the bill, but it will influence the regulated costs that support the electrical system and that we all pay. According to CNMC calculationsthe impact of the change will be between 0.9% and 1.1% of the total annual costs of the system, depending on the level of investment. The purpose of this rate is to guarantee that companies that maintain and expand the electrical network receive a reasonable return on their invested capital. If the percentage is too low, investment is discouraged; If it is too high, the costs of the system and, in the long run, the consumer’s bill increase. The regulator look for a balance point: enough attractiveness for lines to continue being built and reinforced, but without transferring an extra cost to homes. A change in calculation. For the first time, historical data and future forecasts will be combined to estimate the cost of companies’ debt, rather than relying solely on past interest rates. New components are also incorporated: transaction costs (such as commissions for issuing debt), the so-called cost-of-carry (cost of maintaining financial positions) and a correction due to the European Central Bank’s bond purchase programs, which had artificially reduced the profitability of public debt and, therefore, the risk-free rate. According to the organizationthis is a “more realistic” methodology that incorporates recent market volatility. The change will be applied in a phased manner during the six years of the new regulatory period and expands the margin of recognized investment, including not only new infrastructure but also improvements and optimization of existing ones. The goal: keep bills contained while the network is modernized. The “K parameter”. Beyond the technicalities, what is at stake is Spain’s ability to electrify its economy without skyrocketing the bill. The CNMC has set it at 257 euros per connected kilowatt, compared to 232 euros in the previous draft. The companies maintain that the real cost is around 375 euros/kW, so the improvement falls far short. This parameter determines how many industrial projects, data centers or new homes can be connected to the network without the connection being economically unfeasible. According to the employerlimiting remuneration to that level “prevents connecting part of the new consumers” and can put the competitiveness of entire sectors at risk. This has been the response. Aelec expressed its “deep concern” and warned that the new circulars “compromise the electrification and industrial development of the country.” The employers insist that the rate is still below European levels – between 6.8% and 7.5% – and warns that “it discourages investment just when the country needs to deploy more electrical infrastructure.” More than 67 business and social associations have joined his call. In a manifesto cited by Aelec itselfwarn that, if conditions are not reviewed, “the Spanish electricity networks could collapse.” The employers’ association also criticizes that the CNMC has reduced the recognized maintenance costs by 37%, which, in its opinion, may deteriorate the quality of the service and stop the connection of new clients. For its part, the CNMC maintains that its obligation is to protect the consumer and guarantee the sustainability of the system. The organization seeks to “limit the impact of investments on customer bills” and remembers that everything that electricity companies invest in these networks is paid as fixed charges on the electricity bill. The balance, the regulator insistsconsists of remunerating the necessary investments without overloading the end user. A decision with long-term effects. Behind this technical dispute lies a fundamental question: can Spain electrify its economy at the necessary pace without increasing the remuneration of the networks? The Government has launched a plan to increase investment in networks by 62% until 2030, with around 13.6 billion euros to reinforce the national network, as El Economista recalled. However, Five Days points out that the new limitations of the CNMC could stop part of these projects and leave out consumers with higher connection costs. The electricity companies are now preparing allegations before the Council of State, while the regulator defends that its proposal offers stability and predictability for six years, a rarity in a context of financial and energy volatility. An invisible, but transcendental decision. The figure of 6.58% will not say much to the average consumer, but a good part of Spain’s electrical future depends on it. It defines whether there will be enough investment to connect the new factories, electric vehicle chargers or data centers that support digitalization, and also how much each family will pay to keep that network operational. You won’t notice anything on your next bill, but this decision determines how much you’ll pay—and how reliable your grid will be—over the next five years. Between containing prices and … Read more

The garbage rate has become the big hot potato of Spanish politics. In reality there is little unexpected

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They call him the rubbish and, whether you like it more or less, what is undeniable is that the word sums up well the surprise that thousands of Spanish households have encountered when reviewing their accounts: suddenly their town councils have started charging them sums more than considerable for garbage collection or have skyrocketed their rates (in some cases going from 67 to 126 euros), which even it is already felt in the CPI. In reality there is little unexpected, if you take into account that it is something that can be seen coming (at least) from 2022. What there is behind it is debate… and doubts. What has happened? That Spain has seen how garbage became a huge political hot potato. And rightly so, if we take into account that thousands of homes spread throughout the country have found that the bill their city council passes them to finance waste collection has been shot. In some cities a new rate. The rise has been so forceful that it is already reflected clearly in the IPC and in some municipalities has provoked heated protests. The best example was left on Monday Cangas (Pontevedra), where a thousand residents gathered in front of the City Hall to protest against what has already been called (there and in the rest of the country) rubbish. The neighborhood anger escalated to such a level in the municipality that the councilors had no choice but to leave escorted by the police. But why is the rate more expensive? By the BOE. To understand it you have to go back to Law 7/2022 . Among other issues, the rule establishes that the town councils of Spain must provide themselves with “a tax or property benefit of a non-tax public nature, specific, differentiated and non-deficit that allows the implementation of a payment system per generation and that reflects the real cost, direct or indirect, of the collection, transport and treatment operations.” The wording is somewhat confusing, but at least it leaves two ideas clear. First, municipalities have to charge a specific bill focused on garbage. Second, the ‘polluter pays’ maxim must prevail, with a rate that covers “the real, direct and indirect cost” of the collection service. It is not a minor nuance if we take into account that in many municipalities the service was deficient and it was compensated via taxes. The Commonwealth of O Morrazo, for example (the one that suffered Monday’s protests) handles a report that reveals that its service suffered a deficit of about two million of euros. Why is it news now? Because the Law 7/2022 included another indication: it gave the town councils a maximum of three years to comply with this requirement, a period that ended at beginning of april. Since then, the municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants They are obliged to conform to the norm. Some, like Barcelona, they have been for years preparing the ground to soften the blow; but others have waited until almost the end. The majority of councils have in fact chosen to drag their feet and some have not yet adjusted, as is the case in Malaga either Balearics. Where the change has been noticeable is in Madrid. There the impact has been especially notable because in 2015 the then mayor (Ana Botella) decided “eliminate” the garbage rate for the sake of “less fiscal pressure on the citizen’s pocket.” After years with the amount included within the IBIresidents of the capital have encountered a Waste Management Fee that, according to the calculations published by the Consistory itself in October, will have an average cost of 141 euros for homes and 310 for commercial properties. Does it affect the pockets that much? The best way to answer that question is to use the INE. Its latest calculations on the CPI, corresponding to the month of September, show a year-on-year increase of 30.3% in garbage collection, the largest (by far) in a historical series dating back to 2008. The data far exceeds the general index (3%) and has in fact influenced its upward trend. It is an important nuance because, although the deadline set in the 2022 law has already ended, its guidelines have not been applied in all cities of the country. When that happens, it is not unreasonable to think that that 30.3% will be even higher. Why so much controversy? If he rubbish has raised such a political stir, it is not only because of the cost it entails for residents and businesses. The debate has revolved around more formal but equally important questions: Who is ultimately responsible for the increases? Is it the city councils with the formulas they apply when calculating it, is it the Government for promoting the 2022 standard or is it Brussels, through the community directives that cites the law itself? Some town councils, such as Alcobendashas already released statements to inform its neighbors that the new “mandatory” garbage receipts apply. The truth is that months before the deadline set by law expired, in October, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) already demanded the Government to review a law that, in his opinion, is “complicated to understand and apply” and ignores municipal autonomy. Specifically, they asked the Sánchez Government for “a much clearer and more concise regulation that avoids the discretion of each local entity” and at the same time guarantees the objectives set by Brussels. Is that important? Yes. And for several reasons. The first because one of the topics that is raising the most debate about the rubbish They are the differences between cities and the risks that this implies. “It can be applied depending on the address, the number of people residing in the home, the cadastral value… There are many possibilities and without a guide we can end up with more than 8,000 different garbage rates, which will surely generate resources and even different criteria in the courts until the Supreme Court unifies doctrine,” explained already last December ABC the Association … Read more

The CEO that wants a 50% unemployment rate

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At this point no one doubts that the adoption of Teleworking during pandemic as the only possible method for companies were kept afloatmarked a turning point. Global movements such as Great resignation wave Silent resignation They empowered employees in front of their employers. For its part, companies and managers They discovered that they did not have so much negotiation power as they thought of a work context with a great demand for talent. The subsequent hardening in the Policies back to offices He revealed that companies sought to recover their positions of power at all costs, even when those positions They involved a high cost. First of all that veiled movement, only a millionaire dared to reveal what I really thought. Controversial statements. Tim Gurner is the founder and CEO of Gurner Group, a successful Australian real estate company dedicated luxury real estate. In an intervention in a financial forum on real estate, the businessman did not hesitate a few years ago to pour hard words about the Employee Empowerment. “Employees feel that the company is very lucky to have them, and not vice versa. We have to end that attitude, and that has to get through damage to the economy,” said the entrepreneur to, immediately, add “we need to see how unemployment increases to 40% or 50% and see how the economy suffers to remind people that they work for companies, not the other way around.” Questionable salary climb. One of the employer’s arguments for the alleged empowerment of employees are The high salarieswhich have not stopped uploading since 2020. According to data from the Study of remuneration trends and salary increases of 2024 Prepared by KPMG, in 2023 an average salary rise of 3.5% was estimated below the annual inflation rate. The study reflects that in 2023, 90% of companies agreed 5% salary increases to compensate for the Loss of purchasing power of its employees. That is, a reasonable increase taking into account the global inflationary economic context. The same report indicates that the segment that has received more salary increases are intermediate positions and managerial positions with increases between 3.7 and 3.9%. Good offspring. The Australian businessman did not settle for attacking the salaries, he also justified the mass layoffs as a tool to recover negotiation power over employees. “Governments around the world are trying to raise unemployment rates to recover a kind of normality and we will see it. I think all companies are seeing it and I think this is what the massive dismissals are driving. People may not be talking about it, but companies continue to say goodbye to employees and it is being seen how arrogance is reduced in the labor market and must continue because that will balance costs.” Bad dynamics. The balance of dismissals in the technological field has been catastrophic in recent years. According to data From the Trueup Technological Employment Platform, 430,000 were registered in 2023, while in 2024 it was reduced to 239,000 layoffs. Estimates for 2025 is that the year closes with 201,000 layoffs. Most of them, in the United States, but also involved in other markets such as Europe or Tim Gurner’s native Australia. High unemployment. Such a number of layoffs left in some Unemployment rates In 2023 of 3.8%, to stabilize at 4.3% for 2024. Although the millionaire of Gurner Group thinks about it, the mass dismissals have not had an impact on the unemployment rate because the talent scarcity has facilitated its relocation in other companies immediately. Is the return to the office a sample of power? Large companies usually make their decisions based on founded studies and forecastsso surprises the vehemence with which some companies They have faced the return to the office, hiding in a fall in productivity that Studies have not been able to agree or in a strategic positioning for face the development of AI. The decision seems to go against the interests of companies, who face higher costs for offices rental and the discontent staff. This discontent does cause a fall in productivity by falling into Silence situations and even dismissals. Given the lack of real data offered by companies, the controversial Australian CEO dared to give a theory of powers of powers: “This would be a systemic change with which employees will feel that it is they who must feel extremely fortunate to be in companies and not vice versa. So it is a dynamic that must change and we have to end that attitude.” The return to the office for a real estate entrepreneur. Beyond the opinions of each one, Tim Gurner’s point of view can be very conditioned by the delicate Real estate sector situation Before the refusal of the employees to return to the offices. According to official dataTeleworking in the US has left between 20% and 25% of empty offices. Beyond being a labor problem in itself, Not returning to offices is a serious real estate problem in which the main investment funds in the world They have invested more 1.2 billion dollars And its value does not stop falling, so The great bank is already moving card To minimize losses. Rectifying is wise. Beyond the controversy that the statements of the real estate millionaire raised, days after the businessman recognized that they were totally out of place at such a delicate moment for many employees who were losing their jobs. In a publication in Your LinkedIn profilethe millionaire apologized for the lack of empathy and sensitivity for those who had lost their jobs or were about to lose them, recognizing that it is a very serious situation for the employee that suffers it and for its close environment. In Xataka | In their great return to offices, technological ones have a surprise for their employees: they will be smaller In Xataka | Amazon has finished his adventure with teleworking: he will return to the office in January and leave the intermediate charges in the pillory Image | LinkedIn (Tim Gurner), Pexels (Cameron … Read more

The lowest birth rate forced South Korea to a desperate measure: hire foreign nanny

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Of all the problems in South Korea, one was certainly shocking in September last year (things have changed a little Since then): they had the lowest birth rate in the world, of 0.72 children per woman. In recent years, governments and administrations have been passing, but no one managed to stop the descent, nor the super checksnor the rocambolesque idea that Girls begin the school before. The next measure was a symptom of the crisis: they are being forced to Hire foreign nanny. Nannies and visas. As part of the Government’s strategy, the hiring of 100 Philippine nannies that could work in the country since then. The measure was just the beginning, since approximately 1,200 foreign nannies for the first half of 2025and a “more affordable” program Last March. A problem without solution. Despite government efforts during the last 17 years, including An expense of 380 billion wones (Around 284,000 million dollars) In various incentives to increase fertility, the birth rate has continued to plumn. The desperate situation that in Seoul was warned that the country could be the first of the world to disappear due to this demographic decline is such. Moreover, the administration of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol recognized that drastic measures are needed to reverse this trend, and that was the first of the ideas: the introduction of foreign nannies with the aim of relieving the load of the care of children of parents who work, especially in households with double income, and ultimately increase the birth rate. The new policy. As The Government reportedthe entrance was formed between 24 and 38 years old who have the national level II certificate of care certification of the Filipino Government and who have received wide training. Their skills, according to the government, include the care of children, domestic tasks and the basic domain of the Korean language. In addition, the workers do it with an E-9 visa, which allows employment in non-professional sectors in the country, and will be part of a pilot program restricted to Seoul residents. This six -month program aims to provide affordable child care services with homes with children under 12, single -parent families and those with several children. Who pays the party. The lack of affordable nurseries is one of the main concerns among the parents who work, hence the question is more pertinent than ever, who paid the babysitters? According to the Seoul government, hire a foreign nanny for eight hours a day I could cost households around 2.38 million wones per monthalmost half of the average monthly income of Korean households. This generated many doubts about the affordability of the program for average Korean families. “We are seeing complaints about the cost burden of foreign domestic employees,” You Hye-Mi saidmain secretary of the president, in an interview. “Therefore, we are trying to explore ways to mitigate the burden it supposes for an individual home to hire them.” The controversy of the minimum wage. In addition, the program also faced criticism from work activists and immigrant rights groups. It happened in 2023, when the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-Hoon, proposed to hire foreign nanny to A monthly cost of approximately 1 million woneswhich is significantly lower than the minimum wage in South Korea. Not just that. Deputy Cho Jung-Hun also proposed a bill that would exclude immigrant domestic employees from the requirement of the minimum wage law, arguing that the salaries of these workers should be in line with those of their countries of origin, a proposal highly criticized by human rights organizations, which argue that it violates the rights of foreign workers and violates the norms of the International Labor Organization (ILO). And birth rate? As we said at the beginning, the introduction of foreign nannies is part of a broader government effort to boost female participation in the workforce, which is considered essential to improve the country’s birth rate. The number of households with double income in South Korea has increased constantly, reaching 5.82 million in 2021. The problem is that many women end up abandoning the workforce due to the responsibilities of child care. Therefore, by offering more affordable child care options, the government expects to create a more conducive environment for young couples to have children, thus addressing, in theory, the worrying birth rate in descent. A version of this article is PUblicó in 2024 Image | Pexels, Pexels In Xataka | South Korea has taken the rivalry in the classrooms to the extreme: 84% of its children go to academies to be even more competitive In Xataka | Seoul lives an unprecedented birth crisis. The idea of ​​its mayor: set up a municipal dating program

A rate conflict that leaves other airlines hole

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The IAG group airline takes advantage Ryanair’s withdrawal to expand your offer in the archipelago 5% during the winter season. The measure includes 116 additional flights and the change to planes with greater capacity on its Canary Routes. The perfect opportunity. Only 24 hours after Ryanair announced The cut Of 400,000 squares in the Canary Islands for its conflict with the Aena Rates, Iberia Express has taken the opposite step. The company will add about 30,000 additional seats Between October 2025 and January 2026, which represents an increase of 5% compared to the initially scheduled. 30,000 extra places. The plan includes 116 additional flights and more than 150 aircraft changes for others of greater capacity, mainly A321neo models. Tenerife Norte will be the great beneficiary with more than 15,000 additional places and up to 8 daily frequencies with Madrid, precisely the airport most hit by Ryanair’s withdrawal. Gran Canaria adds almost 8,300 more seats and will operate 10 daily frequencies with the capital, while the rest of the islands total 4,500 additional places among all. Beyond opportunism. The airline assures that the movement is not just reagent. “This increase in capacity in the Canary Islands reflects the firm commitment we have acquired with the islands since the beginning of our operations,” says Isabel Rodríguez, commercial director of Iberia Express. The company emphasizes that optimizes the use of its fleet to take advantage of the fact that around 21% of its Canarian passengers fly in connection with other destinations through Madrid. THE PRICE WAR. To accompany the increase in capacity, Iberia Express has launched its ‘Express Days’ campaign with prices from 13 euros for Canarian residents and from 20 euros for the rest of the passengers on the Madrid-Gran Canaria route. A strategy that seeks to stimulate demand after summer peak months and compete directly with cheap flights that characterized Ryanair’s offer. The fight between Ryanair and Aena. Ryanair’s decision to reduce 400,000 places in the Canary Islands is part of a broader offensive. The Irish airline will eliminate one million seats in regional airports and will cancel 36 direct routes in Your tension escalation with Aena For airport rates. The cuts include the complete closure of its base in Santiago de Compostela, the suspension of all flights to Vigo since January 2026 and the end of the operations in Tenerife Norte, precisely where Iberia Express now concentrates its greatest reinforcement. The justification of the tariff war. Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, has attributed These measures to the 6.62% increase in airport rates that AENA will apply. “We cannot justify a continuous investment in airports whose growth is blocked by excessive and uncommunchanting rates,” Wilson said. For his part, Aena responded hard, accusing Ryanair of practicing “Phariseism, bad education and blackmail” through its president, Maurici Lucena. With the withdrawal of Ryanair, key connections disappear and a capacity hole is generated than other airlines, such as Iberia Express, are willing to fill. Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | Lack of a hole, prize on the payroll: Ryanair will upload the prize for employees who discover too large handbags

The last O2 movement is not a simple rate change. It is an unexpected turn that can shake the market

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O2 has surprised us this week with a change that, although it seems small, tells us a lot where the operator is directed inside The new telephone. A rate It has disappeared From its catalog, and with it, O2 has eliminated the 300 Mbps of its offer and the possibility of hiring fiber and mobile for 30 euros per month. It is not good news for the market, let’s see why. Goodbye at 300 Mbps. O2 decided to charge a few days ago the fiber combined of 300 Mbps + two mobile lines of 10 GB and 30 GB, and also eliminated the possibility of hiring only 300 Mbps fiber. The only option that remained with that speed was the fiber combined 300 Mbps + Mobile 50 GB for 30 euros per month. That rate has disappeared this week, so the minimum speed that O2 offers throughout its catalog has become 600 Mbps. It doesn’t matter if you want only fiber or mobile fiber, you can no longer have 300 Mbps. It is only possible to choose 600 Mbps or 1 Gbps, just like Movistar. A higher input price. By eliminating that package of 30 euros per month, the most cheaper fiber and mobile team of O2 costs 35 euros per month. Of course, you have two modalities to choose from that price: 600 Mbps + 60 GB mobile fiber. 600 Mbps + Mobile 10 GB + Mobile 40 GB. These two plans offer twice as a speed and more gigabyes that the rate eliminated by a little more, yes, but there will be those who agree with those 300 Mbps to pay 5 euros less. When an operator eliminates its cheapest plan, the access price is more expensive to its products and that is never good news for the user. Quiet, O2 is not going to upload the price. The strategy of O2 goes to keep the customer happy, so the price never uploads or change the conditions of your rate unless it is an automatic and free improvement. Therefore, if you have hired the team that has eliminated, you can continue enjoying it, at the same price and with the speed of 300 Mbps. The competition does offer 300 Mbps. O2 is a very important actor not only for Telefónica, but for the Spanish market. And we have already seen on several occasions that, when O2 takes the first step, others usually move file. But that the panic does not travel, for the moment, there are still several 300 Mbps options for that price (or even less): In areas with own coverage, Digi It offers 300 Mbps + mobile 25 GB for 13 euros per month (15 euros if you want 50 GB). In areas where there is no smart fiber, DIGI proposes the same thing that has just eliminated O2: fiber 300 Mbps + mobile 50 GB for 30 euros per month. Lowi It has a pair of combined with 300 Mbps fiber for 30 euros per month. One with a 50 GB mobile line (like the rate that has removed O2) and another with two mobile lines of 25 GB each. Pepephone It gives the possibility of hiring 300 Mbps + Mobile fiber with 50 GB cumulative for 30 euros per month. But attentive to its next movements, because Pepephone is usually One of the first to imitate O2. Moremobile It also maintains a 300 Mbps + mobile fiber rate with 40 GB for 29.90 euros per month. O2 moves away from the low cost. Since its launch, O2 has offered much more competitive prices than its sister Movistar. And many expected Telefónica to be even more aggressive with O2 after have been released from regulatory obligations that limited their commercial capacity. That is why this movement has caught us by surprise. Now you can’t have fiber and mobile with O2 for 30 euros per month. If you want O2, you have to pay a minimum 35 euros. That amount enters its reasonable price policy, but it moves a lot away from the cheapest proposals of many of its low cost rivals (read Digi). With Murtra in command, one of the unknowns is which strategy will continue with O2. And who knows, perhaps the objective of O2 with this change is precisely that: to move further away from the concept of low cost that, for many, is synonymous with poor quality. Images | O2 In Xataka | If someone believed that the optical fiber was at the limit of their possibilities, Japan has arrived to show him the opposite

The effect of heat on our heart rate when playing in summer

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It is the summer stamp: go running or riding by bike and, a few minutes later, the pulsometer is triggered to figures that do not correspond to the effort. And it’s not a strange thing to see. It is the body that is trying to respond to a series of stimuli such as heat and exercise, and understanding its physiology is important for Do not turn sports into a health risk. Exercising in summer is a great challenge. In this situation the body is forced to respond to two specific demands. On the one hand, Muscles in action need a lot of energy in the form of ATP To contract. However, this is an inefficient process, since It only takes advantage of between 20 and 25% of the ‘produced’ energy releasing the remaining 80% in the form of heat. This energy in the case of not dissipating it correctly can raise internal body temperature by 1 ºC every 5-10 minutes. How to avoid it. On the other hand, to avoid precisely that lethal overheating, the body thermoregulatory center located in the hypothalamus, Activate powerful cooling mechanisms. One of them is to pump huge volumes of hot blood from the body nucleus to the skin, causing it to be red by that large amount of blood that is going through the surface of the body. This double duty is the fundamental reason why the pulse shoots and becomes the most sensitive and critical indicator of the stress to which the body is subjected The organism has to compensate. These two situations cannot be carried out in parallel, but A balance must be achieved. And it is that when the system is taken to the limit by the intensity of the exercise and the severity of heat, something has to yield. Or blood flow is reduced to the muscles, limiting the ability to maintain rhythm, or the flow to the skin is committed, limiting heat dissipation and increasing body temperature to dangerous limits. Understanding this internal negotiation is key to understand why training in summer is much more than a simple matter of willpower. The skin becomes a giant radiator. The first and most powerful response of the body to the increase in skin temperature and body nucleus It is body vasodilation. Controlled by the ‘thermostat’ of the body, the preoptic area of ​​the anterior hypothalamus, this mechanism causes the blood vessels close to the skin to widen and make it become a refrigerator. Under resting conditions and neutral temperature, the cutaneous blood flow is just about 300 ml/min. However, during an intense exercise in a hot environment, this flow It can shoot until reaching 7 or 8 liters per minute. Something that also represents around 50 and 70% of all cardiac output. And this is a simple deviation of resources with the objective of dissipating heat by convection and radiation. Although it is not free. It has an important cardiovascular cost. The heart accelerates to compensate. The fact of opening the ‘pipes’ that lead the blood to the skin causes the heart to have to activate an important compensation mechanism so that the organs remain perfused. We talk about heart rate, which will be increased. The objective is to maintain cardiac output, so that blood pressure is stabilized despite the low peripheral resistance due to vasodilation. A crucial aspect of this process is speed. The initial increase in heart rate is an incredibly fast neural reflex, triggered by Thermal skin receptors. This response often precedes any significant increase in central body temperature. This shows that the body not only reacts to heat, but anticipates it, preparing the cardiovascular system for the thermoregulatory battle that is coming. The key is in cardiovascular drift. Any athlete who trains with a pulsometer in summer will have noticed a disconcerting phenomenon: even maintaining a constant rhythm, the pulse tends to rise progressively throughout the training. This is something that has been documented and called ‘cardiovascular derives‘, which is defined as the gradual and continuous increase in the heart rate that occurs during a prolonged exercise of constant intensity, accompanied by a decrease in systolic volume (the amount of blood that the heart pumps in each beat). And precisely the heat stimulates the two mechanisms that drive this phenomenon: The increase in skin flow by vasodilation. This causes blood to ‘stagnate’ temporarily on the periphery, which reduces venous return. This means that the heart does not fill so much in each beat, and therefore the amount of blood that will expel will be less. Dehydration Sudoration is essential to cool the complete system, but it entails a loss of body fluids, mainly from the blood plasma. This again reduces that the blood returns to the heart so that the same volume can be pumped. And to compensate the only thing left is to increase the heart rate. The pulse increase per centigrade grade. Once the ‘why’ of this increase in heart rate is known, an athlete is interested in knowing the ‘how much’. And the reality is that studies have established a very useful general rule to know how our body temperature increases when exercising: In dry heat conditions, with environmental temperatures above 24 ° C, the heart rate Increase approximately one beat per minute for each celsius degree of temperature increase. In wet heat conditions, the impact is multiplied. Here the increase in heart rate triggers between 2 and 4 beats per minute for each degree Celsius that increases the ambient temperature. This difference is not trivial. Exercise at 34 ° C in a dry climate (10 ° C above the threshold of 24 ° C) could involve an increase of about 10 beats per minute in the heart rate for the same effort. On the other hand, to those same 34 ° C, but with a high humidity, the increase could be 20 to 40 beats per minute. This additional load on the heart explains why we call as ’embarrassing’ feels much more … Read more

China’s military and civil nuclear capacity grows at an unprecedented rate. The US does not take away your eyes off

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China has deservedly consolidated as the country to which all the nations that bet on nuclear energy look. It currently has 58 nuclear reactors whose joint capacity is approximately 61 GWE (electric gigawatts). Besides, It has another 28 reactors under construction that will add additional 33.65 GWE. And just a month ago the State Council approved the construction of 10 more nuclear reactors. China is already the second country with more machines of this type, only behind the US. In any case, the best asset of this Asian country is its commitment to innovation. And the reactor of Molten Sales and Torio TMSR-LF1 is a very valuable letter of presentation. This machine received the approval of the Chinese Nuclear Safety Administration in mid -June 2023 after having successfully completed the initial testing phase that started in 2021. and since then the itinerary that had set the Institute of Applied Physics of Shanghai, which is the institution responsible for its tuning. As explained by the American nuclear engineer Nick Touran In your tweetthe TMSR-LF1 reactor officially entered into operation on October 11, 2023. A few months later, on June 17, 2024, He started working at full power. And on October 8 of last year the technicians who operate it detected protacinium-233 (PA-233), a radioactive isotope intermediate derived from the transformation of the thorium into Uranium-233 as part of the fuel cycle of the thorium. This nuclear reactor is in the Minqin industrial complex of the province of Gansu, in northern China. It has a power of 2 thermal megawatts (MWT), and, although it will not be the first Fourth Generation Nuclear Reactor In activity, and not the first one that Torio will use as fuel, it will be the first of molten salts that will use this chemical element. However, the ambition of this Asian country does not end here; It is already planning to build a molten salts and more capacity sales reactor for 2030. The modernization of China’s nuclear arsenal is accelerating Nuclear physics has two faces. We all know that the knowledge that has given us can be used to generate electricity and favor the development of large population masses, as we have just seen, but it can also be used to produce weapons of mass destruction. China carried out its first test with an atomic bomb in 1964. Initially its scientists had the help of Soviet nuclear engineers, but this alliance was broken in 1959 and the country that was then led by Mao Zedong was forced to continue with this project without having any external help. This isolation did not prevent China from carrying out the first test with a hydrogen bomb in 1967, just three years after launching its first atomic bomb. During the next three decades the Chinese nuclear armament continued advancing, although Mao never aspired to deal with the number of atomic and hydrogen bombs With the US or the Soviet Union first, and Russia later. His doctrine pursued China’s survival by resorting to deterrence, but without directly involving themselves in the cold war that the two hegemonic powers held at the end of the 20th century. “Beijing has the ambition to create a wide sphere of influence in the regions of the Indian and the Pacific, as well as becoming the leading world power” The funny thing is that everything changed during the first decade of the 21st century. China’s economic capacity was growing and its scientific and technical development during the second half of the twentieth century had been out of all doubt. The US government was already realized that this Asian country was consolidating as a superpower Able to dispute your world supremacy. This was the context in which the tension between these two countries was born that seems to be currently reaching its peak. The following literal extract of the document that collects The National Security Strategy Published by the US government in October 2022, it reflects very clearly why it considers China a threat: “The People’s Republic of China (RPC) is the only competitor that has both the intention of remodeling international order and, increasingly, more and more Economic, diplomatic, military and technological capacity To do so. Beijing has the ambition to create a wide sphere of influence in the regions of the Indian and the Pacific, as well as to become the leading world power. “These lines perfectly condense the background history that has triggered the international situation in which we meet. If we stick to its military development the US Department of Defense He estimates that China currently has an arsenal made up of More than 600 nuclear eyeletsand plans to increase this figure until reaching 1,000 eyelets in 2030. USA and Russia have an arsenal of approximately 5,200 and 5,500 eyelets respectively, although many of them are in reserve and others will be dismantled. China has less eyelets, it is evident, but at least rivals with the US if we stick to the sophistication of its intercontinental ballistic missiles, its nuclear submarines, its bomber and its hypersonic missiles. Let us trust that China, the US, Russia and the other nuclear powers enter and stop this climbing of the nuclear weapons. Image | Пресguese More information | US Department of Defense In Xataka | China prepares the mate to the US: it will have its own UVE lithography team to make chips in 2025

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