Total fertility rate of Spain 1850-2020

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In the second half of the nineteenth century in Spain, the fertility rate fluctuated, but overall it had decreased from 5.1 children per woman in 1850 to 4.7 in 1905. From 1905 until 1935 the fertility decline followed a steady trajectory, falling from 4.7 to 3.5 births per woman during this time. Between 1935 and 1940, the Spanish Civil War caused the fertility rate to drop by 0.7 children per woman. The rate dropped again in the 1940s and 50s, before Spain experienced a baby boom, much like the rest of Western Europe, in the mid 1900s. Compared with the rest of Europe, Spain's baby boom was relatively small, although the population did not begin to decrease again until the late 1970s. Spain had one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at the end of the 1900s, and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the fertility rate was at it's lowest point ever, reaching just 1.2 children per woman in 2000. This number has increased slightly in the past two decades, and is expected to be just over 1.3 in 2020.

一国之生育率，系指该国女性在其生育期内平均所生育子女的数量。以西班牙为例，在十九世纪下半叶，其生育率波动不定，但总体而言，自1850年的每名女性5.1名子女降至1905年的4.7名子女。自1905年至1935年，生育率持续下降，期间每名女性的生育数从4.7降至3.5。1935年至1940年，西班牙内战导致生育率较之前下降0.7名子女。在1940年代和50年代，生育率再次下降，直至西班牙在20世纪中叶经历了与西欧其他国家相似的婴儿潮。尽管西班牙的婴儿潮相较于欧洲其他国家规模较小，但其人口直至20世纪70年代末才再次出现下降。至20世纪末，西班牙的生育率位居世界最低水平之一，而进入21世纪之初，生育率达到了历史最低点，2000年每名女性的生育数仅为1.2名子女。在过去二十年间，这一数字略有上升，预计到2020年将略超过1.3名子女。