The average number of children per woman in Spain in 2019 was 1.24 according to the ‘Urban Indicators 2022’ statistic published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) this Monday, which states that in no major city in Spain did the average number of children per woman exceed two in reference year 2019.
The average number of children per woman is defined as the average number of children that a woman living in a given municipality would have during her fertile life. That is if her fertility remained the same as the fertility measured in a specific year in that municipality.
1.24 child per woman
Thus, the average number of children per woman in Spain in 2019 was 1.24. The cities with the highest average number of children per woman were;
- Melilla (1.97)
- Lorca (1.61)
- La Línea de la Concepción (1.59)
- Ceuta (1.55)
- Manresa (1.50)
- Cartagena (1.47)
- Almería (1.46).
In eight cities, the average number of children is below one.
The lowest averages were mainly in the Canary Islands, particularly in;
- San Cristóbal de la Laguna (0.83 children per woman)
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (0.90)
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife (0.90)
- Telde (0.92)
This is followed by the following mainland towns;
- Gijón (0.93)
- Fuengirola (0.94)
- Avilés (0.99)
- Oviedo (0.99)
Moreover, this means that in these eight cities, women did not have even one child on average.
Lowest and highest life expectancy
The statistics also include an indicator of life expectancy at birth, which represents the average number of years a person is expected to live from birth, calculated as a three-year average, with 2019 being the central reference year. According to the report, life expectancy is above 85 years in three municipalities. All three are in the Madrid region;
- Pozuelo de Alarcón,
- Majadahonda
- Las Rozas de Madrid
These are followed by;
- Rivas-Vaciamadrid (84.9, also Madrid region)
- Getxo (84.7, Basque Country).
Last but not least is La Línea de la Concepción; where, as the only one of the 126 cities studied, life expectancy at birth is less than 80 years, while slightly above that were;
- Ceuta (80.0)
- Melilla (80.1)
- Cadiz (80.7)
- Algeciras (80.8)
Interestingly, Pozuelo de Alarcón, from the top three, is the municipality with the highest average income and lowest unemployment rate in Spain.
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