Spain’s plummeting birth rate

Spain’s baby bust began 30 years ago, and continues dropping. It’s a prime example of a trend happening across the Western World.

But how does a country like Spain cope with its plummeting fertility rate? Tax breaks for new parents, continually extending parental leave, child care benefits and even cash handouts in some EU countries have had little effect in bolstering the birthrate.

Later retirement, increased immigration, hiking taxes

Sustaining economic growth and maintaining state pensions with an increasingly elderly population can lead to some unpopular policies, such as later retirement, increased immigration, hiking taxes and public service cuts. In the late 1990s, not even 3% of residents in Spain were immigrants; today they account for more than 17% of the population, one of the highest ratios in Europe.

Immigration has provided workers and increased growth for the country even though it registered a record-low fertility rate of under 1.2 in 2023, way below the so-called replacement level of 2.1 required to maintain a population.

Increased cost of living partly to blame

In Spain, younger workers earn modest salaries, around €18,000 a year, in often temporary jobs, not even enough to pay rent increased by gentrification, inflation and holiday rentals. University graduates typically live with their parents, when embarking on careers, which can postpone many plans, including marriage and babies.

But, the Spanish economy remains comparatively stable so far. The question is how long can Spain maintain its economy given the ageing population.