The State treats the family worse in Spain than it did 45 years ago, a study reveals

The study Constitution and family. A failed beginningprepared by the Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis of the Catholic University CEU San Pablo (CEU-CEFAS), reveals that the State “treats the family much worse” in Spain than it did 45 years ago, despite the theoretical protection in the 1978 Constitution.

After a brief review of what the Spanish Magna Carta says about the family directly and indirectly, the authors of the report analyze what has happened to this basic institution in Spain in the last 45 years.

In their conclusions, they affirm that “on many very important points, either the constituent politicians went too far from being do-gooders and trying to please, or those who governed Spain from 1979 onwards – many of whom participated in the constituent process – with some areas of light, have not done well at all for the family in relation to essential issues.”

For this reason, it is stated that “in general terms and with objective data in hand, the family in Spain is now much weaker than what it was traditionally in our country prior to the constituent stage of 1977-1978.”

This weakness refers to various aspects such as the marriage rate, the age of marriage, the number of divorces, fertility, the effects of all this on childhood, such as “affective impoverishment” and the increase in loneliness both in the first years of life as well as in adulthood and old age.

Data on the family crisis in Spain

As detailed in the study, in Spain there is a “real lack of protection of what is supposedly protected” by the Spanish Constitution, with the rate of “marital fragility” (number of divorces per 100 weddings) being above 60% in 13 of them. the last 18 years. Furthermore, at least 50% of marriages end in breakdown, 1 in 3 separate before 20 years of marriage and 20% before reaching the fifth wedding anniversary.

Since 1981, around 3 million legal marriages have broken down and between 3.5 and 4 million children and young people have been directly affected. On the other hand, fewer and fewer Spaniards are getting married, such that the number of weddings per 1,000 inhabitants has fallen by half since 1976.

Another fact worth highlighting is that “the average number of children per woman has fallen by more than 50% since 1976”, with the average between 1979 and 2022 being 1.40, which implies “that each new generation of Spaniards is 1 /3 less numerous than the previous one.”

“Worse still, for several years it has been less than 1.2 children per woman, which means that each new generation of Spaniards will be around 45% less numerous than the previous one,” they add.

Consequently, the demographic winter is evident in the country: “For more than ten years, in Spain the number of births has been lower than the number of deaths,” to which must be added “a cumulative loss of 1.5 million of Spaniards since 2012, due to more deaths of people born in Spain than births of babies” with mothers born in the country.

The legal protection of abortion and the free provision of contraceptives by the State “makes it easier for families not to expand, or even to form them.” Since 1986, 2.7 million induced abortions have been recorded in Spain, most of them “paid for with public funds, coming from the taxpayer’s pocket.”

In the field of education, the report concludes that “the right of parents to not have their children receive moral training that is at odds with their own convictions has been and is being violated,” to which it must be added that, “the “Mandatory linguistic immersion in regional languages ​​is unconstitutional and harmful for Spanish-speaking families, and especially for their children.”

The study also looks at economic aspects, to point out “great lack of protection” for families in this field, as they endure a much greater tax pressure, since it has doubled: “In the mid-70s, on average, Spaniards paid , between direct and indirect taxes of all kinds – including Social Security contributions –, 20% or a little more than what they earned. Now they end up paying an average of 40% to 45%.”

On the other hand, the research report denounces that fiscal policy reaches the level of “confiscatory” and that there is “an unacceptably high unemployment rate for more than 40 years, and especially among young people.” Likewise, “difficulties in access to housing, with special detriment to humble families and the emancipation of young people”, State indebtedness or fiscal inequality between regions are reported as factors that negatively affect families.

Responsibility for the family crisis in Spain

The responsibility for what happened, although it falls on the politicians, is not exclusive to them. On the one hand, the report points out the scarcity of academic works and proposals from opinion makers “on the collapse of the family and birth rate” in the last 45 years.

Secondly, he states that “in democracy, in the long run, as Winston Churchill said, the people get what they deserve. And Spaniards have repeatedly supported, with a very majority at the polls, politicians who have not known how or wanted to defend the family and support births.”

Furthermore, experts point out that “politics is not everything” and that “businessmen and workers, and civil society in general, also count a lot in the future of societies.”

In his opinion, “it is also not the fault” of the 1978 Magna Carta “for having been breached in so many important points” despite the fact that it contains “mandates or promises intrinsically difficult to satisfy, either because they are excessively good-natured, or because they are contradictory with other parts.” of the Constitution itself.”

In short, “looking to the future, either Spanish society corrects course in many of the problems exposed in this study and that seriously affect the strength of its families, or it will have a bad time,” they conclude.

Catechism of the Catholic Church and family in the Spanish Constitution of 1978

The study Constitution and family. A failed beginningpoints out that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (numerals 2209, 2210, 2211) “in general terms, it is very aligned” with the precepts that affect the family in the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

However, he emphasizes that “both texts differ in two major issues, in which the Catechism defends ideas of great value for families and society in general, whether Christian or not.”

These are the mention of the principle of subsidiarity in relation to the family “for reasons of effectiveness and efficiency” as well as “prevention of an invasive/totalitarian State”, such as the reference to the “protection of the stability of the marital bond, beneficial for children and birth”.