MADRID: Spain’s birth rate has dropped to its lowest level since records started in 1941, provisional data from its National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday, with just 322,075 babies adding to the country’s population of 48.6 million in 2023.
Last year’s Spanish birth rate was down 2 percent compared with 2022, adding to a drop of almost 25 percent in a decade. This decline has left Spain with the second lowest fertility rate in the European Union, Eurostat data from 2021 shows, lagging Malta.
Eurostat’s data showed the rate in Spain at 1.19 live births per woman compared to the EU average of 1.53, both far short of the 2.1 at which existing population levels would be maintained.
Demographers and economists have urged Europe to rethink attempts to boost its flagging birth rate and some Spanish regions have introduced financial measures and tax deductions to encourage people to start families.
ROME: Italy’s government on Tuesday unveiled a draft law to regulate online reviews of hotels, restaurants and...
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump engaged in a “criminal effort” to overturn the 2020 election result and would have faced...
LOS ANGELES, United States: Powerful winds on Tuesday threatened to rekindle and whip up major fires that have...
LONDON: Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq resigned from the UK government on Tuesday after being named in graft...
LONDON: Organised crime gangs in the UK are using drones to deliver drugs and some weapons to inmates inside jails,...
WASHINGTON: The special counsel who prosecuted Hunter Biden accused US President Joe Biden on Tuesday of undermining...
DOHA: Qatar, a key mediator, said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their “final...
JERUSALEM: Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is...