Event report

Over the last years, the Government of Galicia has been addressing ageing, depopulation and low fertility rates with policies in different areas such as work-life balance, support for families, youth, land planning or active ageing. Specific projects like a Welcome Card for the new-born or Childminder nurseries in rural areas help Galician families in their life plans. As a novelty, a regional law gives a legal base to the comprehensive package of measures aiming at demographic revitalisation and generational turnover. This EU Region Talk aims at explaining the experience of Galicia in tackling demographic change. This region of 2.7 million inhabitants in the Northwest of Spain is one of the most aged regions in Europe. Its population pyramid has been narrowing its base and widening its peaks over the last decades. The moderator invited the attendees to fill a survey on how their regions are working to face demographic challenges. Ageing was the main concern among the participants, followed by the youth exodus and the population decrease. A large majority affirmed to have a specific strategy to tackle demographic change in which the main areas or intervention are family support, active ageing and access to housing in depopulated areas. After that, the Galician Minister for Social Policy, Fabiola García, explained what the regional Government is doing to offer families resources for carrying out their life plan: work-life balance services (especially in rural areas), support to the youth to help them realise their projects and a strong care network for the elderly. As an example, she explained some concrete projects: o A Welcome Card (Tarxeta Benvida), a benefits card for families to face the first expenses incurred when having a baby (buying nappies, food, furniture… ) o Casas nido: small nursery schools in rural villages run in a “nounous” or childminder model that offers a work-life balance support in areas with low birth rates. o Giving free access to early education (0-3 years old) o Cero taxes program to foster the rental or purchase of a house or a land in depopulated areas Since these policies need time to produce results in demographic trends, the Galician Government decided to draw up a law that was broadly negotiated with stakeholders and political parties. The Law of Demographic Boosting was passed in the Regional Parliament in early 2021 and is the first of its kind in Spain. It has a cross-cutting approach and covers land planning, youth policies, active ageing, return of emigrants, work-life balance and family support. Galicia has also worked hard in the past years to place demographic change as a top priority in the political agenda. In Spain, a forum of regions affected by demographic change was created in 2013, leading to the creation in 2017 of a specific portfolio on this issue within the national government. At EU level, Galicia has worked within the Demographic Change Regions Network to advocate for a further attention to their concerns. As a result, the Von Der Leyen Commission committed to better understand and map the demographic challenges in Europe, as it has done in the first report on the impact of Demographic Change and the new Atlas of Demography. Fabiola García, Minister for Social Policy in the Regional Government of Galicia: “One of our main objectives in recent years has been to offer families all the resources needed for carrying out their life plan. We know that no-one has children just because their government asks them to, but we can help them so that this decision is not conditioned by any external agent”