Families, the weight of the crisis

A worrying situation emerges from statistical findings. Naturally, figures alone don’t give the whole picture, but they do provide elements that should be duly considered. It is from this perspective that should be read the report on the Family in Spain 2014, presented by the Family Policy Institute (IPF). The Report shows that families need support and concrete measures from civil society and political powers, thereby promoting and protecting family rights, unity, stability, along with the family’s irrepleaceable social role, critical to a balanced development of the human person and for the transmission of ethical, social and cultural values. The general picture. The Report shows that indicators on family wellbeing have dramatically worsened. First of all, “Spain is experiencing an unprecedented demographic winter”. The low fertiliy index (1.32) places the Country among the last in Europe (26th in the EU). The situation is particularly critical in the Asturias (1.06), Canaries (1.07) and Galitia (1.08), worsened by a dramatic increase in the number of abortions (112.390 each year, equal to an abortion every 4.7 minutes), whereby Spain ranks third among EU28 Countries with the highest abortion rates. Since its legalization in 1985 there have been over 1.8 million pregnancy interruptions, and they are bound to increase to over two million by the end of 2014. Marriages on the other hand register an opposite trend: there have been 51.997 less marriages compared to 1990 and a growth of de facto couples (one million and a half to date). There are over 105thousand divorces yearly, more than 6,300 legal separations and over 130 marriage annulments. Every 5 minutes a marriages ends – the research shows – while two million 700 thousand couples united at the altar have broken up since 1981. The law on rapid divorce only makes things worse. Low employment, decreasing wages. Families are also affected by difficulties in balancing work and family. Job flexibility is lacking while decreasing numbers of workers enjoy maternity leaves or time-off work for family care, not to mention the devastating effects of the economic crisis. Job shortage is direly hitting the families. Two unemployed out of three are married. In 2007 this tragedy involved 1.1 million people, while in 2013 they were as many as 3.7 million. Moreover, wages have been loosing their purchasing power since 2009. The mean monthly salary per household fell by 5.6% – from 1.698 euro in 2009 to 1.602 euro in 2012. Scarce public support. Public administration has abandoned the family, which has further worsened their condition – states the Report. In fact, Spain ranks last in Europe in terms of support and protection measures for families. Not only: Spain can count on a “fourth level” body for the family (a general sub-directorate for the family) while in the rest of Europe there are mostly first level bodies, such as Ministries for the Family. “National administration not only failed to develop legislation and family support plans – the Report states – it also failed to keep the promises made during the electoral campaign”. The result is that there is no law for the family, nor integrated support schemes for families, maternity protection laws or legislation to reconcile work-family balance, nor are there regulations for family mediation and prevention. Appopriations for households are insignificant, while in the rest of Europe (EU28) an average of 2.3% of GDP goes to the family, which places the Country among the lame ducks of the EU. Spanish families can count on reduced or insufficiend aids, which are discriminating. Unlike the rest of the European Union, most Spanish families cannot access subsidies granted to low-income households, amounting to a gross annual income of 11,519 euro for both spouses. That’s why Spain is the EU country with the lowest amounts of family benefits.