The drop in the birth rate and the increase in life expectancy paint a curious picture for the future of the population of the province. The difficulties in finding work, low salaries and problems in reconciling work and family life, mean that since 2008 Alicante has not increased it’s numbers in terms of births. Conversely, the improvements in quality and life expectancy has seen the province “gain” more than 15,000 people over the age of 65 years in the last decade.
This data, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), shows that Alicante has fewer and fewer young people. The province has “lost” 21,578 children under fifteen years of age since 2013, making it one of the provinces with the smallest young population among the ten most populated in Spain.
Another dubious honour revealed by the figures, shows that only 13% of inhabitants are under 15 years of age, lagging behind provinces that are similar in terms of economic and geographical weight, such as Seville and Valencia. Currently, in the province of Alicante, there are about 1.9 million inhabitants, of which only 262,489 are under 15 years of age.
To relieve this situation, the province desperately needs a “baby boom,” like the one that occurred in the 70s, to reverse the trend of an aging population that continues to worsen year after year and that, according to experts, will deteriorate even further, with, by 2037, a quarter of the province’s population expected to be over 65.
The sociologist and professor at the University of Alicante, Juan Manuel Sáez, said that it is striking how in the year 2022 the province and the Valencian Community have the same population as they did back in 2008, “15 years have passed without the population increasing.”
“All this is because we have something that is called “demography in vegetative balance”, that is the difference between births and deaths in the province of Alicante is negative.
Last year this balance was negative, -2.5 people per 1,000 inhabitants. “During this time, 6.9 people were born per thousand inhabitants but 9.3 died. We are losing population, and we are not recovering it,” explains Sáez. Meanwhile, in 1976, in the midst of the “baby boom” in Spain, there were 21,000 births. per 1,000 inhabitants while just 8.7 people per thousand, died.
However, what some see as a problem, Sáez says can become an opportunity. “There is obviously going to be a change in the educational model of the child care sector that will have to pivot and transform into care for the elderly. There will not be as many daycare centres because the birth rate will continue to decline in the coming years so many of those who are now caregivers for children will have to reinvent themselves as caregivers of the elderly.
