Economic crisis taking its toll on population size

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http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Economic/crisis/taking/its/toll/on/population/size/elpepueng/20111007elpeng_5/Ten

After surging in the past decade due to a flood of immigrants attracted by rapid economic expansion fueled mainly by a massive property boom, Spain's population is set to fall by half a million in the next 10 years as emigration sparked by the economic crisis after the bubble burst increases, and as the birth rate remains low.

According to figures released Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), if current demographic trends persist, Spain's population will shrink to 45.6 million in 2021 from 46.1 million at present. It had increased by 15 percent in the decade through to 2010 mainly as a result of an influx of foreigners.

Spaniards, particularly young people, almost half of whom are unemployed, are increasingly moving abroad to seek work as the domestic economy struggles to recover from its worst recession in living memory. One out of five people are out of a job in Spain, more than double the average rate in the European Union.

The INE predicted that just under a million people are expected to leave Spain in the period 2011-2020. "What we are seeing through 2011 is that for the first time since the phenomenon of immigration began in force in Spain <...> is that rather than immigrants stopping coming, many more are leaving," INE official Miguel Ángel Martínez told state radio station RNE. "All of us know the strong relation that exists between migratory movement and the economic situation."


***drops in population in the PIIGS countries makes it that much harder on the debts & deficits.
countries have to apply even more austerity to those that remain.