Spain has accumulated six consecutive years with negative natural growth of the resident population. That is, six years in which more residents have died than have been born.
This is clear from the definitive demographic data for 2022 that the INE has just made public, which confirms that last year 329,251 births were registered (2.4% less than a year before), and 464,417 people died, 3% more than in 2021.
Galicia (-20,501), Castilla y Léon (-17,882), Andalusia (-15,995) and Catalunya (-14,362) are the four autonomous communities where the negative balance is highest, while in Melilla, Murcia and Ceuta there are still more births registered than deaths (410, 226 and 113, respectively).
The downward trend in birth rates continues and demographic indicators show that it will hardly change in the coming years, since the number of women between 25 and 40 years old (the age group in which 83.5% of births are concentrated) ) decreased by 2.3% in the last financial year, going from 4.72 million to 4.63 million. This is because the generations born during the 80s and early 90s, which are the least numerous, are in that age range.
And, in addition to being fewer, women of childbearing age are having fewer children than those of previous generations. The average number of children per woman (the short-term fertility indicator) fell to 1.16 in 2022, the lowest since 1999. And in the case of Spanish mothers, the reduction is greater, to 1.12, while in foreigners remains at 1.35.
On the other hand, Spanish women are also the ones who postpone motherhood the most: the average age of those who became mothers last year was 33.1 years, nine hundredths more than in 2021. On the other hand, the average age at motherhood of foreigners decreased by one tenth, to 30.5 years.
Another indicator that reflects the delay in motherhood in Spain is that the number of births to mothers aged 40 or over has grown by 28% in the last ten years, and they already represent 11% of all births, when in 2012 they were only 6.2% of the total.
As a consequence of all this and the increase in the immigrant population, 23% of children born last year were of foreign mothers, compared to 21.4% in 2021.
Another reality shown by the INE's demographic indicators is that life expectancy in Spain, the highest in Europe, seems to be reaching its ceiling, at least in the case of women, who live the longest. The life expectancy of those born last year stood at 83.08 years, just six hundredths more than in 2021, but that of men rose 0.17 years, to 80.36. On the other hand, that of women fell seven tenths, to 85.74.
This approach between the life expectancy of women and men is also detected in the years that can be expected to live after 65. According to the mortality conditions of the moment, those who reached that age last year will live, on average, 19 .06 years in the case of men and 22.96 in the case of women.
Last year, 179,107 marriages were registered, the highest number in the last ten years. The gross marriage rate increased by more than half a point and stood at 3.7 marriages per thousand inhabitants.
Globalization and immigration are being felt in Spanish society and marriages in which at least one of the spouses is foreign are growing significantly, now representing more than 18% of the total among heterosexual couples. For its part, marriages between people of the same sex account for 3.5% of the total.
