Spain's Population Set to Drop 11% by 2050

The Guardian

October 21, 2016 | Unit 2: Population

Synopsis

By 2050, it is estimated that the population of Spain will decrease by 11%. This translates to about 5.3 million people. At this point, the majority of the population will be the elderly and single people. The life expectancy is expected to increase from 80 years old to 88 for men and 85 to 91 for women. While the total fertility rate is expected to increase, the amount of women having children is expected to decrease, resulting in a lower population. In addition, immigration into Spain is expected to have higher numbers than emigration from Spain, but not large enough to stop the population from decreasing.

Analysis

This article shows how human geographers have predicted how the population of Spain will change in the future. In the article, the author mentions multiple reasons why the population will be decreasing. One of these is due to a low young population. Because Spain has and will continue to have a low young population, there will not be as many people around to create new children. This builds up, as each generation becomes smaller than the one before it. Contrary to this, the total fertility rate will increase, as a single woman will have more children in the future than she will now. This will only slow down the decrease in population, as there will still not be enough women to actually give birth to children. This article relates to what is being learned in class because it discusses the population of a country. It identifies factors that will cause Spain's population to change in the near future, which is similar to what is being studied in class.