Population of Spain over 65 years 2002-2023
Ageism, a growing concern
As it is happening in most advanced economies, Spanish population is getting older. The Mediterranean country featured a median age of 45 years in 2020, and it is forecast to reach 53.2 years in 2050. Life expectancy and the fertility rate are experiencing opposite trends, and while the former keeps improving, the latter continue to decrease. As a result, the Spanish population pyramid is turning into the contracting type, which has worrying social and economic consequences.Poverty among seniors
The average amount of a retirement pension in the country is just over 1,100 euros a month, though this figure depends on the scheme and place of residence. There were almost one million persons receiving a monthly retirement pension which amounted to 600 euros or less in 2022. This scarce allowance can be insufficient to provide a good quality of life. Most recent data shows that nearly 19 percent of those aged 65 or older were at risk at poverty, an extremely high rate despite the fact that this was the age group that featured the lowest risk of poverty. On average, 40.3 percent of the spending among this age group is channeled towards housing, water, electricity and fuels, which leaves little room for spending on other items (food, dress, services, etc.) for those millions of people whose retirement pension is not even close to the national minimum wage.For more data on this topic, check Statista's report on Seniors in Spain.