The number of births until August rebounds for the first time in a decade, although 70,000 fewer children are born than then

Spain has registered 212,011 births in the first eight months of the year, 0.36% more than in the same period last year, which means the first rebound in birth rates in a decadeaccording to data published this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics.

You have to go back to 2014 to find an increase in the number of births compared to the previous year. Since then, year after year, the number of children born in Spain has been gradually decreasing. In fact, until August they were born 69,395 fewer children of those born in the same period ten years ago.

It is a small turning point It remains to be seen if it continues for the rest of the year and could be explained by a combination of factors. On the one hand, Spain has gained a lot of population in the last two years immigrant -it was the second country in the EU that has granted the most residence and work permits to non-EU citizens, as this media reported last week- and it is a group that has greater willingness to have childrenas the Bank of Spain has confirmed.

From July 2023 to July 2024, the native population has grown by 121,718 people, while that of foreign nationality has increased by 293,651. If we take into account that the population of Spanish nationality includes citizens born in other countries, we see that the population born outside has grown almost half a million people (499,452), while the number of residentsborn in Spain has been reduced by 84,083.

The growth of the population and the increase in the weight of foreigners may have contributed to the increase in the number of births. In fact, those communities that are capturing a greater share of the migratory flow are those that have registered the greatest increases: in MadridFor example, they were born 1,431 more children than last year until August; while in other regions the bleeding continues – in Andalusia 796 fewer have been born; in Galicia, 284, and in the Valencian Community, 269-.

As a curiosity, the increase in the number of children compared to last year is almost entirely due to the fact that more have been born baby boys (they explain 99.7% of the increase), while there has hardly been any variation in the number of girls.

Regarding the age of the mother, the number of births has increased in all age groups, with the exception of women from 40 to 44 years old, that they have had 600 less childrenand those between 15 and 19, who have also had fewer children.

The economic evolution It also helps, since in a context of employment growth and rising salaries, young people may be more encouraged to start a family, although there are brakes that act in the opposite direction, such as housing crisis or the inflationary wave.

Although the number of births has increased, the bad news is that in the same period of time the number of births has grown much more. deaths1.27%, up to 298,933 people, according to INE data.

Due to demographic aging and falling fertility rates, more people die in Spain than are born, hence the country needs arrival of foreigners to be able to maintain the growth of its population and, especially, that of those of working age. This increase in the workforce is precisely what the country’s economic growth in recent years is being based on.

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