The transformation of Spanish families so far this century is very pronounced. To the conventional model of marriage with children, a growing number of couples without children, single-parent households, reconstituted families, children with two fathers or two mothers, people who live alone or form a “home” with others without a relationship have been added. And one of the underlying elements in this transformation is the very low fertility, which has placed birth rates at historic lows.
The sociologist Diederik Boertien, researcher in the Family, Inequality and Social Change group at the Center d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED), decided to analyze if this is a chosen reality, if Spaniards are forming the families they want. And his response is blunt: “No, in Spain people cannot form the family they want; “There is a problem having children.”
This was explained yesterday at the academic event held at the UAB to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Center d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED), in which three issues that affect both the Spanish and world populations were addressed: aging, migrations and the transformation of the family.
But what leads Boertien to the conclusion that in Spain people do not form the families they would like? “When we talk about why Spaniards have so few children, economic problems are always mentioned, but we have seen that the economic recovery after the 2008 crisis did not lead to a recovery in fertility, so there must be other reasons,” he comments. the researcher in conversation with La Vanguardia.
And he explains that in the arguments that childless women of different ages give to the question of whether or not they want to have children, some are already visible. Until the age of 30, practically 9 out of 10 would like to have children, but the majority think that they are still too young for it and three out of ten cite economic reasons or work-life balance.
In their thirties, 82% still want to have children, there are fewer who say they do not have them because they are still young and, on the other hand, there is an increase in those who cite economic or professional reasons, not having a partner (around one of every four), or health or fertility problems.
Once they reach their forties, there are still the majority of women without children who would like them but do not have them, mainly due to lack of a partner or fertility problems, and to a much lesser extent for economic reasons or work-life balance, as seen in the graph below.
“Therefore, we see that it is not only economic reasons that prevent women from forming the families they want; It is detected that difficulty in mating and infertility also weighs,” summarizes the CED researcher. And these two aspects have a lot to do with some sociological trends in which Spain differs from its surrounding countries.
“If in 1991 75% of young people between 30 and 34 years old were already living with a partner, in 2021 only half were doing so,” exemplifies Boertien. And not only is it that many people in their thirties have not yet started life as a couple, it is that a high percentage has not even become independent. The percentage of young people aged 30-34 who still live with their parents has increased from 23% in 2011 to 31% in 2021.
“The drop in the birth rate in Spain has a lot to do with the age at which young people here marry, which occurs later than in other countries; The obstacles they encounter to emancipate themselves cause everything to be delayed, it takes them much longer to leave their parents' house and live as a couple, and that is a very big obstacle for people to have children," argues the sociologist.
According to data from the Barcelona Provincial Council, births to mothers over 40 years old are already 11% of the total registered in this province, double that of a decade ago. And the higher the age at which offspring are sought, the more frequent it is that fertility problems arise that make fertilization difficult or impossible, so the greater the probability that the family that the person wanted will not end up being formed.
However, Boertien explains that, along with this reality, in Spain there is also another emerging reality of people finding new ways to create a family. “The percentage of thirty-somethings living with a same-sex couple has more than doubled since 2011, and so has the number of newborns with two fathers or two mothers,” she exemplifies.
