More weddings, and more babies

ALTHOUGH Almeria had, since 2011, been following the national trend with birth rates dropping drastically due in part to the financial crisis, last year it decided to change things up and became one of the few provinces in Spain to register more births than deaths.

Population figures for 2015 released this week by the National Statistics Institute (INE) have revealed there were 7,931 babies born in Almeria (1 per cent more than 2014) and the number of deaths was 5,293.

As the recession finally appears to be lifting, Almeria residents are also once again starting to get married. Altogether 2,100 couples tied the knot in the province last year, however church weddings are becoming less popular with 1,299 of those marrying going for purely civil ceremonies.