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There is something wrong with that! That's a lot of elderly. What can Lisbon/Porto do to attract more youths? Is there any initiative? DO you think other cities in Europe will follow this path with similar statistics in the future?
For those who have been to Lisbon or Porto, does it feel like that? Just a lot of old people all over the place?
Portugal has two problems - 1) bad economy, lack of jobs and poor wages mean young Portuguese people go elsewhere to find work, and 2) Portugal has a very low birth rate.
What can they do? Well, encourage people to have children, improve the economy, and increase competitiveness.
That trend has been going on for years, started before the economic crisis.
And really, if you already find Lisbon and Porto have too many old people, go and visit to the hinterland. When you get back to Lisbon or Porto, you will them regular kindergartens
Anyway, Portugal's and Spain's demographic challenges are symptomatic for most developed countries (except for immigrant countries), many parts of Germany suffer from the same trend.
I am not sure what the reasons are, but I can imagine several:
- when people move to the cities (and a lot still do), they are more likely to be singles, whereas in more rural settings there is a certain pressure to settle down
- in the cities most people, especially women, go to work (they have to as city life is much more expensive, especially rent), so they are much less likely to be mothers
- people in such countries are educated, thus they act responsibly (unlike in African countries), meaning they don't have children when they feel like they don't have a perspective and can't ensure they can take care of their kids because of the economy
- educated people are also more likely to use contraception and use it correctly; after all, a certain percentage of babies are still the result of "accidents"
People now live longer due to improved healthcare. This the trend for both developed and developing countries.
The % of elderly people is even higher for Japan, who has the longest life expectancy.
With 1.3 children per woman, Portugal has one of the world's lowest fertility rates (rank 190 or worse). Statistically, it takes 2.1 children to maintain a society. Others are not much better, though. Germany and Spain for instance with 1.4 and 1.5 respectively. The worst is Macau with 1.1 children per woman.
At the same time all those countries have a life expectancy of more than 80 years now...
That trend has been going on for years, started before the economic crisis.
And really, if you already find Lisbon and Porto have too many old people, go and visit to the hinterland. When you get back to Lisbon or Porto, you will them regular kindergartens
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So, the Portuguese villages are full of mostly old people and dying out?
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