Malaga’s over 85 population set to triple by 2035

WITHIN 24 years, the number of people in Malaga province aged over 85 will have tripled.

This was revealed to a population study by the Andalucian Institute of Statistics which also shows that in this period the number of people aged over 65 will have doubled.

By then, youths and younger adults will be a minority, based on the average birth, death and migration figures seen in the province.

Worldwide figures regarding life expectancy put Spain as the country with the sixth longest living population, after Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada and France.

In the past 40 years, life expectancy in Spain has gone from 69 in 1960 to the 81 years which someone born this decade can expect to live on average.

Although this is good news, experts fear that the public health system and national economy will be affected by this new situation. In Malaga province, there are currently 17 per cent under the age of 16 and 14 per cent over the age of 65.

By 2035, there will be 15 per cent under 16, and 23 per cent over 65. People over 85, which currently represent 1.4 per cent of the population, will have increased to 3.6 per cent.

The number of adults between 16 and 64, currently 68.9 per cent of the population, will drop to around 62 per cent. These figures also show that the population of Malaga will increase by 237,957 inhabitants to more than 1.8 million in total.

The tendency for the population to grow older due to lower birth rates and longer life expectancy is not exclusive to Malaga, and what is more, the province and the rest of the Andalucian region will continue to have one of the lowest populations in Spain.

Photo credit: Gotardo