Population Concepts and Demographic Trends in Spain

Definitions:

Census: A count of the individual population of a country at a given moment. It compiles demographic, economic, social and cultural data on the inhabitants of the country.

Characteristics: individual enumeration, covering all inhabitants, the omission or non-duplication of persons, and simultaneity. A census can distinguish between de facto population (residents + transients) and de jure population (residents + absentees). Since 1900 in Spain it has been conducted every 10 years (ending in 5). Spain's population was updated to 40.8 million.

Municipal register: A register of the inhabitants of each municipality, compiling economic, demographic and social data. This public record is constantly updated by municipalities.

Civil registry: Records marriages and births, and serves as a source for elaborating the natural movement of the population.

Statistics: Data relating to the natural movement of population and migration.

Surveys: Provide information that complements censuses. Surveys focus on the population above a certain age, using a specific criterion to ensure representativeness.

Demographic sources: Records or documents that provide data and information about the population. They can be traditional or modern.

Key Demographic Rates

• Fertility rate: (Number of births in a period ÷ Number of women of childbearing age) × 1,000.
• Crude birth rate: (Births in the period ÷ Number of inhabitants) × 1,000.
• Mortality rate: Calculated in the same way as the crude birth rate, using deaths.
• Infant mortality rate: (Deaths of children under 1 year ÷ Total births) × 1,000.
• Natural growth rate: (Births − Deaths) ÷ Number of inhabitants. Natural growth = (Births − Deaths) + (Immigration − Emigration).
• Generation gap: The number of years between parents and their children, i.e., the period in which people are born, excluding the effects of war or epidemics.
• Generational replacement: The number of children per woman necessary to ensure population maintenance: 2.1 children per woman.
• Life expectancy: The number of years a person is expected to live, around 80.
• Aging index: The population aged 65 and over as a percentage of the total population; 12% is considered a threshold of an aging population.

Demographic transition: A process of rapid change in which mortality and birth rates decline, typically over the 19th and 20th centuries. The population moves from an old demographic regime to a new one. This model cannot be applied uniformly to all countries.

Population: The population includes all those of legal working age who are working or willing to do so.

Spatial Distribution of Population

Spain is a sparsely populated country. The main tool for analyzing distribution is the concept of population density: inhabitants ÷ surface area (km²). Spain has about 89.5 inhabitants per km², a low density, with an uneven distribution that contrasts with Italy. Its main contrasts are between interior and periphery, and between urban and rural areas.

Origins of imbalances in distribution:

• 16th century: Density was concentrated in the central Peninsular north.
• 17th century: Crises led to migrations toward the islands and coastal areas.
• 18th century: Coasts became increasingly populated.
• 19th century: Rural exodus.

Concentration of main population centers: Coastal regions, the Canary Islands, Madrid and the Valladolid–Zaragoza area. Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia hold about one-sixth of the population, together accounting for 57% of the population. The highest densities are in the Canary Islands, Madrid and the Basque Country.

Regions with the fewest inhabitants: Mountain areas, Castile and León, Extremadura, Aragon, Galicia and the high Guadalquivir. Castile and León, Extremadura and Aragon together hold about 15% of the population.

Natural Movement of the Population

Birth: In Spain the crude birth rate has fallen to about 10.73 per 1,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest in the world, at 1.34 children per woman. In recent years, the birth rate has increased due to immigrant mothers. Factors explaining the decline in births since 1975 include:

• Demographic factors: Decline in birth and infant mortality, and an increase in the age at which women marry and have children.
• Socioeconomic factors: Urbanization and the concentration of the Spanish population in cities.
• Cultural and ideological factors: Economic development, higher education levels, secularization, changes in intentions and mentality, and the shift from rural society.

Birth rates are highest in Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and Ceuta and Melilla, and lowest in Cantabria.

Mortality: Mortality rates depend on causes and time. By cause: endogenous (childbirth, malformations or aging) and exogenous (diseases or accidents). By age: general, child (intrauterine, neonatal, postnatal). The crude death rate reached its lowest value in 1982 (7.5 per 1,000), then rose to 8.71–8.72 (2004–2005) due to an increase in elderly deaths and accidents. Death rates fell sharply from 1900 thanks to antibiotics, vaccination and improvements. Currently, the leading causes of death are chronic diseases, which affect mostly the elderly. Life expectancy is 75.7 years for men and 83.1 years for women. Mortality rates are highest in Asturias, Galicia and Extremadura, and lowest in the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Andalusia and Madrid.