The ageing Marina Alta

Quarter of residents in the area are above pension age

ONE in four Marina Alta residents is over retirement age and the average inhabitant in the district is getting older, according to latest research.

The Marina Alta Observatory, a socio-economic study run by district recruitment network CREAMA, says the average age of a resident in the northern tip of the province of Alicante was 39 back in 1991, but has now soared to 45 and is expected to reach 47 by the year 2030.

In Spain, the average age is 43, up from 41 a decade ago.

With an ageing population, related public services such as healthcare and, in the case of nationals and ex-workers, State pensions, will continue to increase, but the number of younger, working-aged adults to fund these will reduce. side-effect of job insecurity, low wages and lack of a welfare state. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 70% of women aged 35 do not have children, and one in five firsttime mums is aged over 40.

In the Marina Alta, the average age is higher in more remote, inland areas, largely because adults of working and child-bearing age tend to move to more populated areas to find jobs and schools.

The Observatory says that in 12 of the Marina Alta's 33 towns and villages, the average age is over 52 - Castell de Castells, Vall d'Ebo, L'Atzúvia, Sagra, Vall d'Alcalà, Vall de Laguar, Benigembla, Murla, Parcent, Llíber, Alcalalí and Els Poblets.

All bar the latter are rural and land-locked.

Discounting the coastal strip, the average age in the district would be 51.

And 25% of residents in the Marina Alta are aged 65 or over, compared with 19% - 8.9 million out of 47 million - across Spain as a whole.

The Observatory says these figures are 'alarming', since these inland areas run a ' very real risk' of population decline or even extinction - not just longterm, but 'in the short or medium term', the study warns.

Whilst six towns on the Marina Alta coast total 108,306 inhabitants, another 18 inland towns are home to just 13,667.

At present, the Marina Alta is home to 171,826 people - a figure expected to rise to around 175,000 by the year 2030.

The birth rate in the district has dropped by 2% since 1991, but the mortality rate has risen by 0.4%, meaning the 'replacement population' is not sufficient, leading to what is known as an inverted demographic pyramid.

Overall, the average age of a native Spaniard in Spain is 44, falling to 36 for a foreigner, or 40 for a European Union citizen.

Brits are the third-largest national group in Spain, outstripped threefold by Romanians and nearly four times by Moroccans.

They are also the oldest, with an average age of 53.6, ahead of Germans (49.2) and French (42.6), according to the INE.