skyrocketed

overcrowded homes have skyrocketed

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In full housing crisis and with the registry growing thanks basically to immigration pushSpain has encountered a problem: it has more and more overcrowded homessomething that is usually considered an indicator of poverty and that basically tells us about housing “overcrowded”. The Eurostat data show that the Spanish ratio is still far from that of the EU or neighboring countries such as Italy, Germany or France, but even so the trend is revealing. Overcrowded homes? Correct. EITHER “overcrowded”another way to identify them. Basically both labels refer to the same thing: homes in which so many people live that their inhabitants exceed the capacity for which they were ideally designed, at least for comfortable coexistence. Said like this it may sound abstract, but both the INE as Eurostat They use some agreed criteria to recognize them. An “overcrowded home” is one that does not have a room per couple, for each tenant over 18 years of age or for each two young people of the same sex between 12 and 17 years old. There are more guidelines but they all point in the same direction. Thanks to them, technicians can then calculate their impact on society as a whole, the “overcrowding rate”. Year Spain France Portugal Italy Germany EU 2010 5 9.2 14.6 24.3 7.1 19.1 2015 5.5 7.4 10.3 27.8 7 18.1 2020 7.6 9.6 9 26.1 10.2 17.4 2024 9.1 10.4 11.2 23.9 11.5 16.9 And what do the statistics say? That in Spain this rate (the percentage of the population that lives in overcrowded homes) has not stopped growing in recent years. In fact the data from Eurostat show that in 2024 the indicator reached its highest level since 2004. If in 2010 the Spanish overcrowding rate was 5%, in 2020 it had risen to 7.6% and last year it stood at 9.1%. It may not seem like a high figure, but as remember The Confidential It is equivalent to millions of people (4.4) living in saturated environments. Why is it important data? More than because of the data itself (which is not especially high), because of the trend. Spain is far from being one of the European countries with the most overcrowded homes. The rate is considerably higher in Italy (23.9%), Germany (11.5%), Portugal (11.2%) or France (10.4%). Even the average of the 27 EU countries (16.9%) clearly exceeds the Spanish figure; but our country does stands out for its evolution recent. And not for the better. Between 2009 and 2024 the Spanish overcrowding rate increased by 75%, while in the EU as a whole and many other surrounding nations this same indicator decreased. What’s more, if we take into account the set of countries analyzed by Eurostat there is only one that has experienced an increase in the overcrowding rate greater than Spain: Netherlands, where it went from 1.7% to 4.6%. The palm in terms of volume goes to the Baltic countries. Eurostat map with data from 2023. Can it go further? Yes. Eurostat allows us to go further and that reveals to us that the rate of overcrowding does not affect the entire population equally nor does it have the same footprint throughout the country. As precise The Confidentialits incidence seems higher among those who live in rented houses (at market rents) than among those who live in their own homes, whether with or without a mortgage. If we go down to detail we also see that it is easier to find foreigners (especially non-EU) living in overcrowded homes than people born in Spain and who, therefore, have a family support network. Among the latter (Spanish) the worst part goes to the young people. A few months ago Foessa Foundation I already warned in a report on “households that are forced to share apartments with more people, return to parents’ or relatives’ homes to live with them, resort to so-called ‘nano apartments’ or that are unable to look for another home when the family increases.” According to their data, 3.4 million people (7%) live in “crowded conditions.” What are the causes? That the footprint of overcrowded homes has increased in Spain responds to several factors, but it is undeniable that the phenomenon has coincided above all with two clear trends. The first is the gradual increase in price of the home. According to the Idealista portal, on average rents have increased by 10.9% in the last year, which places the residential square meter (m2) at the highest values ​​since at least 2006. If we talk about the purchase and sale market, photography It’s not very different. This translates into stressed markets, fast pace and in which access is complicated to housing, especially among young people. In fact, for many, the only way to achieve home ownership is through a paternal donation. And the other factor? Population growth. At the end of the first half of 2025, 49.3 million people lived in our country, “the maximum value in the historical series,” as recognizes the INEwhich also remembers that this increase has a clearly identified demographic driver: immigration. The INE data does not leave room for many doubts. The number of people born in Spain has decreased, so the increase was mainly based on residents arriving from abroad. A revealing case is that of the Community of Madrid, which at the end of 2024 reached a historical milestone: surpassed one million people born in Hispanic America. 25 years ago there were not even 82,000. Is it the only reality? No. Paradoxical as it may be, in recent years not only has the rate of overcrowded homes grown. Those on the opposite pole have also done so: single-person householdspeople who live alone. This is clearly reflected in the Continuous Population Statistics published in July by the INE, which shows that in our country there are 5.54 million homes in which only one person resides. The data is already close to that of the most common household format, those made up of two people. Today they still remain … Read more

Ten AI startups have skyrocketed their valuation by $1 trillion in 12 months

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Logic tells us that companies that they lose money consistently should have a black future. What is happening in the world of AI is just the opposite, and right now ten startups in very red numbers They have achieved something unusual in one year: in one year they have grown by one trillion dollars in their joint valuation. It is something simply extraordinary… and disturbing. The big three. OpenAI is of course the protagonist of this select group, and today it is estimated that its valuation amounts to half a billion dollars. Elon Musk’s company, xAI, is valued at 200 billion, while Anthropic is also close to that figure according to a Financial Times study. In one year the valuation of these AI startups has skyrocketed. Source: Financial Times. And his immediate followers. Databricks, which was founded in 2013, was quick to join that segment and now has an estimated valuation of $100 billion. Figure (robotics), SSI (Sutskever’s startup), Scale AI, Perplexity, Thinking Machine Lab (Mira Murati’s startup) or Cursor complete this group of new startups (almost all of them) and with skyrocketing valuations. Investment fever. This growth in its valuation is due, of course, to the fact that all of these firms have raised multimillion-dollar investment rounds by firms that trust in a future full of AI. In fact, venture capital and investment companies in the US have injected 161 billion dollars throughout this year, and they have done so without being able to see even a hint that their bet is going to be a winner. All these AI companies They burn money like there’s no tomorrowand its profitability—and future—is an absolute unknown. bubbles are good. “Of course there is an (AI) bubble.” The person who says it is Hermant Taneja, president of the venture capital firm General Catalyst. His firm has invested in Anthropic and Mistral, and has done so without batting an eye because according to him, “Bubbles are good. Bubbles align capital and talent into a new trend, which causes some carnage, but also creates new lasting businesses that change the world.” Maybe it is, but only for a few.. Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, also think there is a bubblebut it coincides with that positive vision because it is probably him who will benefit (if everything explodes). Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, already indicated a year ago that the bubble will end up bursting and that only 1% of companies will survive. Bezos adds to that perception: “this is the good type of industrial bubble that is totally contrary to financial bubbles. The banking bubble, the crisis of the banking system, that is simply bad, as happened in 2008. These bubbles are the ones that society must avoid.” It happened with dotcoms. The analogy with the dotcom bubble It’s inevitable. At that time something similar happened with the inflated valuations of internet companies, and when the bubble burst only a few survived, but those that did managed to become the mistresses of the world. ANDThis bubble is much bigger. At least, from the point of view of the figures invested. In the dotcom fever, venture capital companies invested 10.5 billion dollars, which if we adjust for inflation becomes about 20 billion dollars. In 2021, these same firms invested 135 billion in startups in the SaaS (Software as a Service) segment. This year, investment in AI companies will likely exceed $200 billion, according to PitchBook. One of the directors of these firms describes this with a strong word. “This is FOMO“. And the valuations are skyrocketing. Startups that have $5 million in annual recurring revenue are seeking investment rounds that value them at $500 million. That they pursue those valuations that are 100 times their income makes ridiculous the excesses that already occurred in 2021, for example. Although venture capital firms know that they will lose money on most of their bets, they also hope that one or two that they get right will more than make up for that entire bet. Not investing is losing forever. Mark Zuckerberg shares this vision of venture capital firms, and his company is making colossal investments to avoid missing out on AI. The founder and CEO of Meta recently explained that He doesn’t care about losing 200,000 million dollarsbecause it would be much worse to be left behind in this race. Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, agrees and believes that a trillion dollars of investment will end up wasted, but AI will end up producing 10 times that in value: “The only way we know to create great technology is to try as many things as possible, see which ones work, and then focus on the ones that succeed.” Time will tell if they were right and if this bubble, as investors defend, is “a good one.” In Xataka | OpenAI is making the tech industry unite its destiny with yours. For the sake of the global economy, it better work

Europe has found the antidote to Russian drones. So demand for a 100-year-old gun has skyrocketed.

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The war in Ukraine has become an immense laboratory for new war technologies, but it has also reminded us that beyond the sophistication of modern artillery, the experience of the past remains a weapon as powerful as any missile. we have seen optical illusionsthe return of the horses or weapons 1940’s vintage. In fact, Europe is arming itself against Russia’s hybrid war with a 100-year-old weapon. The resurgence of a legend. The war in Ukraine has returned a veteran of more than a century to the front line: the M2 heavy machine gun Browning, symbol of 20th century war engineering and now a key piece in the arsenal of modern armies. Designed in 1921 by John Moses Browning and mass produced during World War II, the M2 (capable of firing .50 caliber projectiles at a rate of up to 600 rounds per minute) has once again proven indispensable, especially on the Ukrainian front, where it is used on civilian trucks to shoot down Russian Shahed drones. Its mechanical simplicity, extreme reliability and devastating power have made it a weapon with no direct substitute, and its use has contributed to a surge in global demand reminiscent of the most intense years of the Cold War. Industrial boom. The rebirth of this icon runs parallel to the FN Browning expansionthe historic Belgian firm that from its headquarters in Herstal manufactures not only the M2, but also the FN MAG and FN Minimi (known in the United States as M240 and M249) along with FN SCAR rifles and ammunition of standard NATO calibers. After decades of relative calm, its production of machine guns has been doubled compared to 2022, and the demand for ammunition has quadrupled. Although the company does not sell directly to Ukraine, its contracts with allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom or France have grown exponentially. France, for example, has recovered thousands of M2s abandoned by US troops in 1945 for FN to modernize and return them to service with “like new” guarantees. The conflict has revived interest not only in new generation weapons, but also in those that have proven to be reliable under any circumstances. Economy of rearmament. The war has awakened a cycle of massive rearmament in Europe, with more than 930,000 million of dollars committed through 2030, and FN Browning has become one of the epicenters of this military reindustrialization. Despite a stable business volume (1.3 billion euros in 2024, after the acquisition of the ammunition producer Sofisport), the company is expanding its workforce and increasing the production of weapons and ammunition by thousands of units annually. The stagnation of its sports division, which flourished during the pandemic, contrasts with the avalanche of state contracts that consolidate its strategic role within the European defense ecosystem. The machine gun market, relegated for years, is experiencing a second youth marked by the urgency of replenishing depleted arsenals after the massive shipment of weapons to Ukraine and the perception of a persistent Russian threat. Classic weapons, modern warfare. The Ukrainian conflict has shown that even in the era of artificial intelligence and drone swarms, classically designed weapons still play a critical role. The M2 they have adapted to unmanned ground platforms and remote stations controlled by AI to improve precision in the fight against drones. F. N. Browning collaborates with technology firms to integrate automatic target recognition systems into their turrets, anticipating a convergence between mechanical tradition and algorithmic warfare. At the same time, European militaries, after decades of disinvestment, are faced with the need to rebuild their heavy fire capabilities from the ground up. From the past to the future. The longevity of the M2 It is a testament not only to its design, but also to a cyclical military reality: modern wars continue to depend on the reliability of steel and gunpowder. From the beaches of Normandy to the fields of Donetsk, this machine gun has accompanied Western armies through a century of changing conflicts, and today it once again symbolizes resistance in the face of technological adversity. For FN Browning, the resurgence of its most emblematic weapon marks not only the most active moment since the end of the Cold War, but also the beginning of a new era in which war tradition and digital innovation march, once again, at the same pace. Image | Wikimedia Cominos In Xataka | Europe has decided to take action against Moscow’s hybrid war. So Germany has started hunting for Russian drones In Xataka | “Why don’t we shoot?”: in the face of Russian drone incursions, Ryanair has its own alternative to the European wall

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