Spain has lost 1.3 million young people in just 40 years, and one in four was born abroad.

In just forty years, Spain has lost 1.3 million young people. The aging of the population and the plummeting birth rate have caused young people aged 15 to 29 to fall from representing 24.3% of the population in 1983 to 15.9% in 2023. This is the perfect breeding ground: life expectancy is increasingly higher for older people; but life expectancy is increasingly worse for young people, who are delaying their transition to adulthood.

"Not only are there few young people, they are also entering the sociological conditions of adulthood (emancipation, stable employment, etc.) later than previous generations, with an increase in the number of people who, past the age of 30, still live in unstable social conditions ," underlines a report by the Youth Institute to which 20minutos has had access. The document, which will be presented this Thursday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Youth and Children, points to another phenomenon that cushions part of this decline in the young population: 24% of young people living in Spain were born abroad.

In 2023, Spain had 7.6 million young people aged 15 to 29, compared to 9 million in 1983. This decline is inconsistent with the general population in Spain, which has gained almost ten million inhabitants over the last forty years. The result? If previously the dependent population was mainly made up of minors, it is now dominated by those over 65. A trend that, according to the report, "will continue in the coming decades" and which means, on the one hand, that young people are prolonging their dependent period and, on the other, that there are increasingly more dependent older people: caregiving therefore falls on the so-called "sandwich generation," who must simultaneously care for their parents and children.

The lack of a decent wage and obstacles to accessing housing have also pushed up the age of leaving home , which now stands at around 30, which also delays parenthood: the average age for first-time motherhood in Spain is close to that age, at 31.6 (compared to 29.1 in France and 29.9 in Germany). Although almost eight out of ten young people would like to have a child, this is only a reality for 19% of those aged between 30 and 34.

Another "major transformation" noted by Injuve in the report is the incorporation of people of foreign origin. Almost one in four young people living in Spain was born in another country —especially those between 25 and 34 years of age—and with a particular incidence of nationals from South America, Africa, and the European Union (EU). This is a significant proportion, considering that, among the general population, people born abroad represent 17%.

For the Ministry of Youth and Children, this diversity translates into an "enrichment of Spanish society" and "greater tolerance" among Spanish youth, "who have incorporated foreigners as an indispensable and inseparable part of their daily lives ." "They are their friends, their classmates. They are part of the youth," assert sources from the ministry.

Thirty-somethings move to the villages

The employment and educational opportunities offered by large cities make them a very attractive destination for 41% of young people living in these urban centers. This situation, according to the agency attached to the Ministry, is also due to inequalities in access to transportation and other public services and contributes to the "empty Spain" phenomenon. More than half of foreigners also prefer municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

The data reflect, however, that as people age, these preferences change and they migrate to smaller towns: 29% of young people between the ages of 30 and 34 now live in smaller municipalities, where housing prices are more affordable and, therefore, so are the possibilities for developing their life plans.

Child-rearing benefit, IMV and housing law

Sources from the department headed by Sira Rego urge a "deep reflection" on fertility and maternity data in Spain, which are heavily influenced by the precariousness of young people. In this regard, they call for the urgent need to promote universal childcare benefits "to address the child poverty figures, but also to reverse this situation and ensure that motherhood or fatherhood can be freely chosen." "From a place of poverty, one cannot freely choose," they insist to this newspaper, before also advocating "elevating caregiving as a priority policy for the welfare state."

Although the Youth and Children's Department asserts that policies such as labor reform and the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) have contributed to improving young people's living conditions, it denounces that "housing continues to act as a vacuum cleaner for all these improvements." "It is essential that regional governments implement the housing law," the same sources assert, noting the measures proposed by the government to address the housing crisis in Spain.