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Solo living surge
IN a striking shift in Spanish living arrangements, the number of households in the country has rocketed, suggesting that more people are choosing to live alone.
The study, released on Friday, June 30, compared data collected in January 2021 with that of 2011. It found that the number of households in Spain soared to 18,539,223 by January 2021, an increase of 455,531 from 2011.
This remarkable surge, accounting for a 2.5 per cent rise in the total number of households, was revealed by the recent Census of Population and Housing report by the National Institute of Statistics.
Delving deeper into the statistics, 27 per cent of households are now occupied by people living alone, which equates to 5,001,166 people who live on their own.
This figure has seen a re markable growth of 807,847 people in just a decade, showing a societal shift towards selfreliance and personal independence.
While the majority of Spain’s population of 47,400,798 still lives in conventional family homes, the census also sheds light on alternative living arrangements, including dwellings like caravans and communal establishments like barracks, prisons, and convents.
SPAIN is celebrating a historic milestone in early years education, showing the success of the country’s workfamily balance.
Data on the last academic year, was released on Thursday, June 29. The data revealed that a remarkable 45.6 per cent of children aged zero to three were enrolled in nursery schools and other preschool education centres, a 6.8 per cent increase compared with the previous academic year.
Overall, 468,429 children between the ages of zero and three were enrolled in some form of preschool education, 29,919 more than the previous year.
Enrolment rates were highest among threeyearolds, with 355,837 students. Enrolments of twoyearolds in nurseries and preschools surged to more than 70 per cent of the total national population of twoyearolds, up from 64 per cent the year before.
The number of early education centres also rose by 6.5 per cent in the last year, a further 672 additional centres compared to 2022. The Ministry for Education is providing support with a €670 million grant over the next three years to create 65,000 public, free early childhood education spots.
