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Last month we learned that the world population reached 8,000 million inhabitants and, also, that in Spain the birth rate continues to drop.

In recent years, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) offers data that, tenth above, tenth below, always indicate the same thing: fewer and fewer children are being born and Spanish women have them later each time.

This body has announced that 2021 is the year in which the lowest number of births since

bottoming out for the

consecutive year.

The absolute number of babies was 337,380 children,

than in the year of the pandemic.

During the 1960s and a large part of the 1970s, these data remained at an almost constant level between

, that is, double.

Spanish women are mothers of their first child at 32.05 years of age and, on average, have 1.16 children (1.19 if we include the other nationalities).

These figures, so slimmed down, are very far from those sepia photos with large families, but they are also far from those of

(2.77%).

INE

"Nobody asks a woman why she wants to have children"

A survey carried out this year by Sigma Dos for YO DONA explained some of the causes of this reality.

A

of those surveyed with children would have wanted to have more, but their

situation put a brake on expanding the family.

Family or partner conditions, and the lack of job stability complete the pyrrhic cake of the birth rate.

However, it is women who place more emphasis on work, since they perceive

as an impediment to their

Of those asked,

, simply because they do not want to.

No more no less.

Those who do not have children acknowledge feeling social pressure for it, although that pointing finger makes a bigger dent in them: seven points more than in men.

PR (45-year-old woman) has never wanted children, neither now that she does not have a stable partner nor when she did.

"I've always been very clear about it," she says.

And of course, the usual question: why?

"I don't exactly have a specific reason. When a woman decides to have children,

I just haven't considered why I don't want to have them, just as I haven't considered studying Chinese either."

Like many, she has felt judged for it: "Family, friends, co-workers... Everyone asks you and

. So much so that you even question it. They tell you 'with how beautiful you are...', as if it were normal not to have them if you're ugly. Many believe that you're a lesbian, that they broke your heart, that you have a family trauma... People think of everything except that you don't want to have them , as simple as it is," he snorts.

And she confirms the gender gap in this matter: "

Nobody asks my

"Motherhood is an option, and it is not mine"

Clara M. is 42 years old and although they predicted that

would come to her , it did not.

"When she was younger it seemed like a rebellious decision, but I've never felt that call," she admits.

She knows that in other more traditional families than hers, other women have experienced the pressure of children, but luckily, it has not been her case: "My mother wanted to be a grandmother, of course, but she has always told me that it is better not to have them rather than an unwanted maternity".

In addition to this family context, Clara is

He might have had them, but in any case when he was younger.

In this way, the passing of the years has made him converge with her and her life project.

"For me, motherhood is just an option, and it's not mine, but I'm not a radical anti-motherhood or anything like that," she says firmly.

Therefore, she has never felt offended by indiscreet questions.

And

, loneliness?

"Having children to take care of you is very selfish. I wouldn't have looked for a partner to feel accompanied either. They have taught me to be independent," she says.

Precariousness in accounts and work

MS

The thing about children and bread under the arm is little more than a saying.

Walking stuck to the end of the month and not having job stability work as efficient contraceptives.

is a journalist and author of

(Arpa Editores, 2022), a book in which she addresses, among other issues, what families need to raise children and what they have instead.

The subtitle, 'Having children in today's world: between privilege and uncertainty', already explains many things.

Procreating is no longer as relentless a social mandate as before, but other factors have also been incorporated: "Not only job and economic precariousness delay motherhood. The

also influences . We receive constant messages that we always have time left to think about our children, encouraging us to develop professionally and enjoy life. But it's not true, because we have a biological clock," she says.

Scientific evidence indicates that 35 is a key age from which

a woman 's

And here, says Oliver, "the

industry has found a vein", a sector that in Spain relies mostly on private clinics (80%).

"We have naturalized to resort to it, but the focus should not be there but to correct why we cannot have children before if we want to," he says.

He also emphasizes a certain trivialization of these medical processes: "These treatments go through the bodies of women and are hard, although there are still no studies on whether they have long-term effects."

According to data from the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF), in 2020, with the evident notch of the pandemic and the closure of these medical centers, 153,300 treatments were carried out between artificial inseminations and in vitro fertilizations.

Of these

that came into the world during the last quarter of 2020 and the first three of 2021.

More protection for pregnant women

Shutterstock

The Redmadre Foundation presented last month the 6th edition of the

, a report that measures the care that public administrations provide to pregnant women in vulnerable situations in Spain.

According to their data, they invested only

, which means 13 euros per woman.

María Torrego, president of this NGO, considers that our country "continues to be a society indebted to motherhood in almost all territories", since only six (Castilla y León, Andalusia, Galicia, the Basque Country, Madrid and La Rioja) more than 500,000 euros a year in aid.

The report, they insist, does not refer to women at risk of social exclusion, cared for by the Social Services of the Administration, but to those with difficulties in continuing with their pregnancy.

Given the birth data, the general director, Amaya Azcona, points out a clear objective: to consider pregnant women in vulnerable situations and new mothers with difficulties as a

and beneficiary of public policies.

"We value recent initiatives such as those of the Community of Madrid [from January 2022, mothers under 30 years of age with incomes of less than €30,000 will receive €500 per month from the fifth month of pregnancy until the child turns 2], but the The

is ideal .

Through a federal foundation, they invest 92 million euros a year to facilitate the continuation of the pregnancy and the care of young children," defends Azcona.

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