Regional differences in population ageing in Spain (the case of the Valencian community)

Carles Simó, University of Valencia
Salvador Mendez Martinez, University of Valencia
Gaiane Safarova, Saint-Petersburg Institute for Economics and Mathematics RAS

With ageing development the needs for thorough analysis increase, especially for Spain, because in general it may be considered as rather “old” country. Demographic development of such a big country is not homogeneous, and differences between autonomous communities (big administrative units) in values of indicators of main demographic processes lead to diversities of population age structures, which result in differences in values of ageing indicators. Moreover, inside autonomous communities substantial regional differences may take place. Therefore a situation is possible when values of ageing indicators for a community don’t differ much from country’s levels, while inside the community regional differences are greater than the mentioned ones. The Valencian Community (VC) gives an example of such situation that requires thorough consideration. The VC is the fourth country’s region in terms of population size and consists of three parts: Alicante, Castellon and Valencia having different population size and demographic indicators. The paper aims to make a comparative analysis of ageing development in the regions of the VC since the beginning of the 1990s and to reveal regional differences. Changes in age structure by major age groups will be considered, and a number of ageing characteristics will be computed for the VC and its regions. Ageing indicators for the VC will be compared with those for Spain as a whole. To characterize the situation in regard to population ageing, conventional measures and quantitative characteristics that take account of remaining years of life (prospective measures) will be examined. The paper is based on censuses and micro-data on vital events. The study is revealing similarities and diversities in dynamics of ageing indicators for the VC and Spain, and inside the VC. Results of the study may contribute to the management, administration and planning of social programmes related to population ageing.