Catalonia, with the lowest birth rate in its history, has gone from six million inhabitants in 1987 to the current eight million. On November 1, the inhabitants of Catalonia were 8,005,784 (4,065,088 women and 3,940,696 men), according to the Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya, which calculated that this figure would be exceeded later, at the end of this decade
The Minister for Social Rights of the Generalitat, Carles Campuzano, talked last night about this issue with Albert Esteve, director of the Center for Demographic Studies. The meeting is part of a cycle of conferences of the Cercle d'Economia and was moderated by a member of the board of directors, Rita Amela.
The generic title of the talks could not be more revealing, Immigration in advanced countries: problem or solution? The specific title of yesterday's event is also very significant: We are 8 million... and now what? Now, as the joke goes, Catalonia will have to find a bigger hotel.
This metaphorical hotel will be, in the words of Councilor Campuzano, the policies of social integration and care for the elderly. He and Albert Esteve stressed that there had never been more inhabitants "in this corner of the planet", but paradoxically there had never been such a low natural growth, that is to say, such a large difference between deaths and births. Catalonia has "the fertility rate of the Uci", as Albert Esteve said.
If it has grown, it has been thanks to immigration. "Two out of three babies born are to mothers of foreign origin", explained this demography expert. "We have always been a country of immigrants", replied the Minister of Social Rights, who recalled that when he was born, in 1964, "more than 50% of the people who lived in Catalonia had not been born here" .
Let's go back to one of the questions of the Economic Circle: what now? "Yes, we have been a country of immigrants, but if we want to continue to be a country we will need to strengthen social cohesion policies", replied the minister, who regretted the very low percentage of GDP that Spain allocates to these policies.
The Center for Demographic Studies is "one of the least known and most relevant jewels of Catalonia", according to the Cercle d'Economia. The director of this population observatory predicted that in the next "ten or fifteen years Catalonia will reach nine million". A joke from the time of Jordi Pujol, who was in the front row of the auditorium, presented him traveling to China and saying: "We are six million". "Very well, and in which hotel are they staying?".
