Spains birth rate is at 1.15 alot lower then the 2.0 necesarry to replace the population. This is a very very serious problem for Spains future with out kids their is no future. I was wondering if any one around here knows of any steps or plans that is being put in Spain to help out this population crisis an article will be greatly appreciated thanks in advance

The actual government policy seems to be increase Latino inmigration,since they use to have more children.

However, neither latinos nor spanish are stupid.

It takes a lot of effort and suffering to bring up your children. Having to spend outrageous prices for housing, kindergarten, baby products, expensive books and special clothing for school makes people wait till they have a house, a stable work and so on.

The true policies would be real jobs with real stability, and less estate speculation, but they won't do anything about that because it's precisely PP friends and members those who are making money with both.

When you say latino inimagration do u mean from Argentina or from other latin countries such as Peru. We must realize that this is a very serious problem although I am not an Exnophobic person and I believe inimagrants sould be welcomed I do not believe that the repopulation of Spain using none-Spanish elements is good because well we need more Spanish people don't we

People just are not getting married. I took a spain and society course in sevilla a few months ago. The number one group of non-spaniards that spaniards marry are germans. Many spaniards are not getting married. When I would go to the clubs in sevilla I would see the same women each week. Many in their 40's and still clubbing. Spaniards do adopt. Many times from central america or south america. Nicaragua is very popular according to my professor. He said almost never an african. Spain has to come to grips with this. I was amezed to see the large population of senioprs in madrid barcelona an especially sevilla. In the U.S. the older population moves to communities in florida or arizona etc. Spain cannot continue like this, a shrinking workforce means a shrinking tax base, while pensions are paid out to seniors. Do you see the problem. If spain wants to compete it has to have a strong young workforce otherwise it might find itself left behind. if not the immigration from south america, africa and eastern europe.Which it is currently undergoing.

Quintos:

I used the word Latinos as short for Latino Americans, and I meant people from this area regardless of race.

I don't think that, in this country with a still high unemployment rate, it is important the number of new workers:

Tax payers are also grants, government helps, and Health care demanders, and the country is paying for this for each of them.

Nowadays, in most sectors, many of the tasks can be automatized. Only care of the elder could be a real problem, because it will require mmore and more people and people can not pay a lot for that.

As I say, there is a lot of unemployed people. And this people does't work because salaries offered are simply shameful and terms dayly, weekly or monthly. SOme prefer to keep on studying to improve their profiles and get (rather) better payments, others who would to work simply stay at home and make some savings (for the couple) by cooking themselves, taking care of babies themselves (instead of the super-expensive kindergatrten), or dedicating to hobbies while something better appears, instead of working for tips.

The relation of power employer/employee has gone so far towards the employer part that now the employees cannot buy the very products they produce. This as the recipe for recession, and this is, at least I think so, the reason for North American recession too.

I bet North American anglo families have a similar rate. Other ethncities have also cultural modifiers to this conduct.

A new social agreement is needed to share the wealth, like the one old John Maynard Keynes proposed to get out of the 30 crisis. However, the American Government bastardized his proposals, by not trying to make workers have a higher percentage of GNP but encouraging them to spend with their future earnings (birth of the massive credit spenditure), others followed.

This way, they would still buy, and the economy would still be working, the rich getting richer, but they, unfortunately, poorer. Mantaining a high standard of life, good cars, and so on, but being deeply in debt. Also, to mantain the living standard included working more hours and living farther (which means more hours expended). Richness is not only standard of living but also quality of living; I could easily earn a 50% more by working 4/5 hours more in the afternoon/evenings, and I would have much more money, but I'd be poor because I wouldn't have the "goods" that I could have bought with it. What's worth to have money for a cruise if you can't go becasuse of work? Or having children and reach everyday home when they are asleep?

What's important, when we speak of salaries, is the final per hour payment (no matter if paid monthly), the rest is simply increasing low pay hours to get some tips.

I hope the new equilibrium will be more fair, in a world basis, or at least in Spain. Otherwise, people simply won't feel encourage to have children that they can't reasonably rise.

Quintos,

You may find this article interesting.
Spain labors to bring home baby - and the bacon

By Dale Fuchs | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Book Lady those articles are incouraging :p But it kinda ignores the real the problem but hey at least some thing is being done! FREE HAM! Tax Dollars paying for sex changes absolutely out rages and abortions in a country with such a low birth rate sould only be done when absolutely necesary.

Interesting article about low birthrates in europe. It is in the features section of ft.com (features section online)

Booklady. Good article, however:

The problem with employment stability has nothing to do with this. SInce most of the jobs that young people (and the rest) get are rubbish-contracts, they don't care muc about losing them, because after having the children they can easily get another 500 euros a month salary for 8 or 9 hours a day.

And men and women get the same salary for the same work. In my firm, exactly the same. We have some tables of salaries depending of level (worker, engineer, chief engineer), of years spent in the job, and so on, and there is no "sex specification" a woman engineer gets exactly , let's say 1400€ just like a man engineer.

However, many times women sacrify their career to take care of the children , and the do not promote because they don't dedicate so much to the firm. But when they do, they get rises exactly the same.

Although I know that for americans this may sound weird, many girls study at the University just to have a degree, like a nobility title, but then they just want to marry and take care of the children. A spoilt. I can point many cases around me.

I get furious with this behaviour because the university is so cheap in SPain because we subvention it (the rest of the spaniards), and it costs a Lot. Of course some men do this too, but just a bunch , whereas many women do.