Spain: A country for “The Old” but no country for the young
To paraphrase that famous film by the Cohen brothers that took its title from Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium poem, Spain is definitely a country for old people.
But not for the old men described by Yeats in his poem: "An old man is nothing but a miserable thing, a ragged coat on a stick [...]". Not at all, Yeats! What a shame that you weren’t able to see the development of our society as one with so many “older” people (aged over-65 years) and “senior” citizens (the over-80s).
Seven facts that prove that Spain is a country for old people and a tough country for young people:
- Spain is the country with the world's oldest population, along with Japan and Slovenia.
- Spain is the country that has experienced one of the fastest demographic ageing processes in the last decade, with our median age rising 3.9 years between 2012 (40.8) and 2021 (44.7).
- The elderly represent 20% of the Spanish population.
- In 2050, one in three Spaniards will be aged 65 or older.
- 54% of households in Spain are made up of people living alone or as a couple without children, and the average age of these households is over 50 years old.
- The average age for leaving home is 30.3 years. A typical young person might have to spend 83.7% of his or her net salary on rent. Having children? Unaffordable!
- There are more pets than teenagers in Spanish households. Are we changing who we give our love and affection to?
- The youth unemployment rate is around 28%, the highest in the European Union.
Spain's population pyramid is increasingly challenging for brands . We love working for Gen Z, developing great innovative concepts and advertising for young people, but are we questioning their spending power? It is clear that "old people" are seen as less appealing, and they stand out less in communication, but keeping them in mind seems like a good idea.
In the words of Darrell Bricker, Global CEO Ipsos Public Affairs: "Advertising will have to adapt to the reality that is not a bearded and tattooed young man who can spend more, but a grey-haired man".
Do brands know enough about this stressed Spanish social structure? Are they applying the right strategies? Are they aware of the importance, the relevance that different groups are going to have in our country in the coming decades? Do brands think about the spending capacity of each target? Do we really want to know "the old" and the peculiarities between ages or are we just going to keep considering them as "old" in general?
Yeats also recognised that “the old” will have a place "if they can get their souls to clap and sing". In Spain, this has been the case for some time now, and brands that are not taking this into account are already losing many business opportunities and therefore putting their future at risk.
Marina Navarro
Head of Qualitative and Social Intelligence, Ipsos in Spain