Committee: World Health Organization

Topic: Addressing the crisis of the world fertility rate

Country: Spain
Name: Nguyễn Khánh Linh
The fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime if she
followed age-related fertility rates (ASFRs) and survived from birth to the end of her
reproductive years. The fertility rate is calculated by summing age-specific rates for a year at a
given time. Assuming net migration is excluded and the mortality rate remains constant, a
fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman suggests that the population remains stable, which is also
known as replacement level. The birth rate holds an important position in reflecting the
economic status and social stability of a country. Unfortunately, many countries, especially the
developed and prosperous ones, are currently facing a dramatic decline in the birth rate, leading
to undesirable effects on both economic and social life, including labor shortages and an aging
population. This is regarded as a global demographic trajectory, which would have a profound
impact on a nation’s development in various ways.
In the past few years, many pragmatic resolutions were taken globally to help curb this
disturbing trend. During the 1970s and 1980s, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and
the Soviet Union implemented policies to encourage families to have more than one child. In the
1970s, the government of Czechoslovakia spent 10% of the national budget on childcare service
subsidies and other related payments. Despite the early 1990s recession’s budgetary pressure and
the expensiveness of those policies, several countries had made even greater efforts in raising
fertility schemes by adopting new schemes to encourage child-bearing. In 2005, it was noted that
childcare spending accounted for nearly 60.8% of GDP per capita in the Czech Republic and
51.3% in Slovakia. Russia launched a capital fund for mothers in 2007, providing mothers with a
second or third child 250,000 rubles (about 12,000 USD), equivalent to the annual average
income. 6th Global Symposium on Low Fertility and Population Ageing taking place at Seoul,
Republic of Korea in 2022 was held by UNFPA and the Korea Statistics Agency (KOSTAT). It
gathered around 120 parliamentarians, ministers, and other experts from the UN and civil
organizations to discuss the potential causes and feasible measures of the low birth rate issue.
Moreover, the UK and other European countries had funded a program for Fertility Treatment,
which was to be under the control of the Department of Health in 2009. This was to help resolve
the problem of inadequate service in assisted conception and promote access to fertility care.
Despite the effort aforementioned, the question of whether such schemes would bring about
long-term benefits still sounds speculative. Italy, for example, having applied the policy of
allocating €800 payment per couple per birth, is still among one of the nations that have the
lowest fertility rate in the EU, with 1.3 children per woman. Such failure of providing incentives
seems to mainly stem from the general attitude. The tendency of young couples deciding to delay
marriage and the ever-existing health-relating preoccupation towards child-bearing, for instance,
pose a real sense of burden to the global protection of fertility.
Spain is one of the countries that suffers significantly from the low level of fertility. The birth
rate in Spain has faced a down-curve wave since the 1970s, from 2.86 to 1.19 in 2021. Declining
fertility has an undesirable influence on both individuals and society. It is the high rate of
unemployment, low salary, and unaffordable child-bearing services for young parents that
discourage them from having multiple children. Accordingly, the gap between the woman’s
expected and achieved fertility is widened, which is likely to arouse personal dissatisfaction and
potential frustration. In addition, by 2050 Spain will be one of the oldest countries in the world,
according to UN estimates. The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is projected to
reach 36.8% by 2050, surpassed only by Japan (37.7%) and South Korea (38.1%). This
occurrence of an aging population does pose a threat to Spain’s national budget spent on
pensions and the elderly care system. The problem of the decline in taxpayers is equally worth
noting. Low fertility increases female labor force participation and increases federal income tax.
But because women have fewer children than in previous years, fewer workers may end up
paying income tax. Since 1980, the policy of employees working fewer hours to care for children
under 6 or family members with illnesses has been applied. The program of parental leave is
expanded, now 16 weeks and 18 weeks in the case of disabled children. Since 2003, working
mothers covered by social insurance have been entitled to an annual payment of €1,200 per
child. The enhancement of return-to-work guarantees was established in 1989 and the dismissal
of maternity was prohibited after 1999. The birth rate has increased slightly over the past decades
due to foreign-born women having children in Spain and the slowing of child-bearing
postponement. However, we recognize and admit the fact that such family policies alone cannot
tackle the ingrained issues of Spain’s precarious economy and the effect of cultural change.
Young people in Spain tend to start an independent life quite late, at 30 years old on average due
to the job market precariousness, so it is necessary that the social protection against unstable
employment be more widely applied. Secularism and delayed age of marriage in Spain also
contributes to fertility stagnation and decline in general family size. We would therefore enforce
more feasible schemes of tax deduction, consider investing more into the construction of free
childcare centers as well as pre-conception clinics and launch proper social programs focused on
culture that encourage child-bearing.
Spain would propose that governments provide fully funded reproductive and social health care
to achieve the required birth rates and have a younger population to contribute to national and
global progress as women in today's time play a key role in the total workforce and social
welfare, so, understandably, they deserve reproductive benefits. At the same time, national and
international initiatives on infertility prevention and fertility protection are also needed. Projects
should address the specific needs of local people. Governments need to work closely with the
voluntary sector to achieve maximum impact. We recommend that the most crucial step seems to
be the adjustment in education to raise general awareness at individual, family, and community
levels about the factors affecting fertility in men and women. To prevent future infertility, it is
significant to plan a practical and meaningful program for reproductive health during the
secondary years. Propaganda campaigns had better be launched on a larger scale and with more
detailed instructions. In conclusion, Spain attempts to put forward some resolutions to help
address the issue mentioned above.
Citation:
https://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-rates.htm#:~:text=The%20total%20fertility%20rate
%20in,prevailing%20age%2Dspecific%20fertility%20rates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate
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