© 1999 - 2008
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Spain: Short on children and short on family policies

 

Margarita Delgado
Gerado Meil
Francisco Zamora López

 
VOLUME 19 - ARTICLE 27
PAGES 1059 - 1104
Date Received: 21 Jul 2006
Date Published: 1 Jul 2008

http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol19/27/

Bookmark this page
Send this article to a friend
   
PDF file Click the icon to view and/or download the PDF file.
Once you are in the PDF file, use your browser back button to return to this page.

Abstract
Spain’s total fertility rate has more than halved since 1975, when it was 2.8, to the present 1.3 (the lowest rate on record, 1.2, was reached in 1995). At the same time, the mean age at first childbirth has grown continually, seriously hindering any sustained recovery of fertility. Cohort fertility, in turn, has declined uninterruptedly since the 1941 cohort, and according to all estimates, this will drop to 1.6 for women born in the 1960s. A downturn in nuptiality, which has not been offset by a rise in consensual unions, along with the prevalence of contraceptives and abortion, have contributed substantially to falling fertility. Underlying this decrease is the profound cultural, social, and economic change that has raised the perceived costs of leaving the parental home and having children. The lack of any explicit family policy or transfers to compensate for such costs has reinforced that perception.

Author's affiliation
Margarita Delgado
Spanish Council for Scientific Research, Spain
Gerado Meil
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Francisco Zamora López
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

Keywords
childbearing, Europe, family policy, fertility, Spain

Related links
file You will find all publications in this Special Collection “Childbearing Trends and Policies in Europe” at http://www.demographic-research.org/special/7/

Word count (Main text)
13725

Most recent Similar Articles (in Demographic Research)
file [19-29] Ukraine: On the border between old and new in uncertain times (fertility, childbearing)
file [19-28] Sweden: Combining childbearing and gender equality (Europe, childbearing)
file [19-26] Slovenia: Generous family policy without evidence of any fertility impact (Europe, childbearing)
file [19-25] Slovakia: Fertility between tradition and modernity (fertility, childbearing)
file [19-24] Russian Federation: From the first to second demographic transition (Europe, childbearing)

[ Back to previous page ]