It’s still a long way from redressing the “generational dilemma”, but Portugal has at last seen a leap in the number of babies being born – and it is certainly not all down to foreigners.
In the past, the Algarve led the field when it came to births, with many attributed to residents from overseas – but now the tide has turned.
In the first six months of 2015, six more babies per day have been registered as being born, with the districts showing the greatest increases being Vila Real (up 12%), Braga and Portalegre (both up 7%).
As TVI24 reports, this is the first time in four years that babies have enjoyed anything like a boom year in the country that has the lowest birth-rate in the European Union.
In fact, the last few years have seen nothing but “sharp declines” in baby numbers – leading to all kinds of debates and even a parliamentary multidisciplinary team being set up with the brief to “prepare a plan of action”.
Closely-aligned to the economic crisis, birth-rates reached an all-time low last year of 82,367.
Thus the hope now is that babies will start biting back.
For the record, “oldies” still outstrip the country’s youngsters by 136 to 100 and there have been endless studies discussing the relative rarity of children in Portugal by the year 2050 unless people start tackling the issue at source.
By NATASHA DONN [email protected]
