84
Alicante, Spain
Data and urban geography
The significant increase of population longe-vity has become an international phenome-non (Kinsella and Phillips, 2005). In Spain the ageing process resulting from ever longer life spans has been particularly rapid, to the extent that the number of people aged over 65 has doubled in the space of less than 30 years. This process has been accentuated by the country’s low birth rate over the past few decades and Spain leads the group of countries with the lowest in the world (Ber-nardi and Requena, 2004). The current data for Spain show the share of the population aged 65+ to currently stand at 17%, equal to over 7 million people (Instituto Nacional de Estadística-INE, 2008), of whom approxima-tely 25% are aged over eighty. Furthermore, the projections by the Spanish National Sta-tistics Office (INE) suggest the over-65s will
make up more than 30% of the population by 2050 (almost 13 million people) and the number of over-eighties will exceed 4 million, thus representing more than 30% of the total adult population (Figure 98).
International foresight studies have produ-ced even more pessimistic estimates and the United Nations projects that Spain will be the world’s oldest country in 2050, with 40%
of its population aged over 60 (Fernández, 2019). Comparing Spain’s data with that for the EU as a whole clearly shows how much more accentuated the phenomenon of po-pulation ageing is here. Based on these esti-mates, the percentage of older people in the Spanish population is growing faster than in most other European countries (Fernández, 2019).
As it is visible on Figure 99, according to Figure 97 - Location: Alicante
03.2 Plaza de América
85 data provided by the National Institute of
Statistics in 2021, the population over 64 years of age in Spain amounted to 9.38 mi-llion people, thus returning to increase again, as in previous years. In fact, more than 90%
of the men and women who died in Spain from coronavirus were 60 years of age or ol-der (Fernandez. R, 2022).
In order to comprehend and take knowledge on a minor scale, it is interesting to point out the percentage of the population aged 65 or over in Spain as by autonomous communi-ty (Fernandez, R. 2021). Up front, the com-munities of Asturias and Castilla y León are represented by 25,7% as the major quantity.
The community of Valencia, in which
Alican-2050
2025
2000
1975
1950
0-14 15-24 25-49 50-64 65-79 >80 Changing relative sizes of population groups over the period 1950-2050
13.3 9.7 28.2 18.5 18.5 11.8
14.4 10.5 31.1 21.3 16.2 6.5
17.1 13 36.9 12.3 17.2 3.4
23.7 15.5 32.7 15.4 10.7 2
24.9 15.8 15.2 35 7.9 1.2
2002
Number of inhabitants in millions 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
6,98
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
7,09 7,15 7,17 7,32 7,41 7,51 7,66 7,81 7,98 8,13 8,26 8,44 8,59 8,7 8,83 8,97 9,12 9,28 9,38 Number of inhabitants of 65 years old or more in Spain on 2002-2021
(In millions)
Asturias Castilla y León Galicia País Vasco
Aragón Cantabria
La Rioja Extremadura Navarra C. Valenciana España Castilla-La Mancha Cataluña C. de Madrid Andalucía Región de Murcia Canarias Islas Baleares Ceuta y Melilla
0% 2,5% 5% 7,5% 10% 12,5%
11%
15,5%
15,8%
15,6%
17,1%
17,7%
18,8%
19%
19,3%
19,3%
19,6%
20,7%
20,9%
21,8%
21,6%
22,3%
25,2%
25,4%
25,7%
15% 17,5% 20% 22,5% 25% 27,5% 30%
Population aged 65 or over in Spain as by autonomous community
Percentage of population 2050
2025
2000
1975
1950
0-14 15-24 25-49 50-64 65-79 >80
Changing relative sizes of population groups over the period 1950-2050
13.3 9.7 28.2 18.5 18.5 11.8
14.4 10.5 31.1 21.3 16.2 6.5
17.1 13 36.9 12.3 17.2 3.4
23.7 15.5 32.7 15.4 10.7 2
24.9 15.8 15.2 35 7.9 1.2
2002
Number of inhabitants in millions 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
6,98
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
7,09 7,15 7,17 7,32 7,41 7,51 7,66 7,81 7,98 8,13 8,26 8,44 8,59 8,7 8,83 8,97 9,12 9,28 9,38
Number of inhabitants of 65 years old or more in Spain on 2002-2021 (In millions)
Asturias Castilla y León Galicia País Vasco
Aragón Cantabria
La Rioja Extremadura Navarra C. Valenciana España Castilla-La Mancha Cataluña C. de Madrid Andalucía Región de Murcia Canarias Islas Baleares Ceuta y Melilla
0% 2,5% 5% 7,5% 10% 12,5%
11%
15,5%
15,8%
15,6%
17,1%
17,7%
18,8%
19%
19,3%
19,3%
19,6%
20,7%
20,9%
21,8%
21,6%
22,3%
25,2%
25,4%
25,7%
15% 17,5% 20% 22,5% 25% 27,5% 30%
Population aged 65 or over in Spain as by autonomous community
Percentage of population
Figure 98 - Relative Sizes of population groups
Figure 99 - Number of inhabitants of 65 years old or more
86
te city is located, represents a medium-high value of 19,3% compared to Ceuta y Meli-lla that has the lowest value at 11% (Figure 100).
Regarding urban geography, in Spain social and economic progress entails the pheno-menon of progressive ageing of the popu-lation. Strongly emerges the call for some segments of population older than 80 years, phenomena known as the Fourth Age. Howe-ver, what supposes an achievement and a social conquest, it also supposes a “burden”
for the whole of society for the attention that these people require. This growing po-pulation group lives in a situation of greater fragility and vulnerability, suffers to a grea-ter extent from an undesirable situation of loneliness and lack of social integration and,
on many occasions, the dwellings they oc-cupy are not habitable due to their state of conservation (Dossier).
The social and demographic changes ob-served in Spain in recent years have created particular challenges for older people, many of whom currently live in a situation of fragi-lity and vulnerabifragi-lity. In addition to economic problems, isolation and loneliness, specific housing difficulties commonly are faced by older people in Spain including inadequate housing conditions like maintenance or pro-blems of accessibility. Also a common phe-nomena in this country can be the property
‘harassment’, the need to sell your home to supplement the retirement income, or losing their homes because they had to co-guaran-tee their children when they can no longer
2050
2025
2000
1975
1950
0-14 15-24 25-49 50-64 65-79 >80 Changing relative sizes of population groups over the period 1950-2050
13.3 9.7 28.2 18.5 18.5 11.8
14.4 10.5 31.1 21.3 16.2 6.5
17.1 13 36.9 12.3 17.2 3.4
23.7 15.5 32.7 15.4 10.7 2
24.9 15.8 15.2 35 7.9 1.2
2002
Number of inhabitants in millions 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
6,98
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
7,09 7,15 7,17 7,32 7,41 7,51 7,66 7,81 7,98 8,13 8,26 8,44 8,59 8,7 8,83 8,97 9,12 9,28 9,38 Number of inhabitants of 65 years old or more in Spain on 2002-2021
(In millions)
Asturias Castilla y León Galicia País Vasco
Aragón Cantabria
La Rioja Extremadura Navarra C. Valenciana España Castilla-La Mancha Cataluña C. de Madrid Andalucía Región de Murcia Canarias Islas Baleares Ceuta y Melilla
0% 2,5% 5% 7,5% 10% 12,5%
11%
15,5%
15,8%
15,6%
17,1%
17,7%
18,8%
19%
19,3%
19,3%
19,6%
20,7%
20,9%
21,8%
21,6%
22,3%
25,2%
25,4%
25,7%
15% 17,5% 20% 22,5% 25% 27,5% 30%
Population aged 65 or over in Spain as by autonomous community
Percentage of population
Figure 100 - Population aged 65 or over by communities
87 make their own mortgage payments. These
factors often cause older people who might otherwise be able to live independently to end up living with their children or entering nursing homes prematurely.
The ageing of the population and the co-hesion of neighbourhoods are current pro-blems that affect the architecture of cities.
The commitment to increasingly individua-listic life models contrasts with the need for socialisation of people who, due to their advanced age, have been left off the hook of the instruments currently used to rela-te to others, mainly because of the digital world. It is difficult to find a reliable answer to the intergenerational relationships of the near future, in the sense that the concepts of family and society evolve with the times, which means that, with a current vision, the new retirees are adults in perfect physical condition, despite being professionally in-active. Active ageing has much to do with a person’s choice, although there is also an institutional and civic responsibility that must ensure compliance with this intergene-rational solidarity.