Biggest families have shrunk by 30pc in decade

15 May 2006

MADRID — The number of large families has shown a dramatic fall in just ten years, new figures show.

Government statistics showed the number of families with three or more children is now 402,562 – 30 percent less than in 1996.

Economic problems, the difficulty of combining work and family life and the changing role of women in society, have all conspired to reduce the size of the Spanish family.

The figures, from the government’s work and social affairs ministry, come against the backdrop of a falling birth rate in Spain.

In 1996, there were 574,657 families with more than three children.

Three years ago, the law broadened the qualifications for large families.

Previously, a law introduced under the former dictator General Francisco Franco stipulated all children in the same family had to come from the same two parents.

But a new law in 2003, said they could come from different parents, and that the figures could include foreigners with legal residence in Spain.

The number of children in large families is also getting smaller.

Three out of four or 76 percent have three children.

Families with more than four make up only seven percent of larger families.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news