The arrival of winter tourism produces every year in the south of Gran Canaria the traditional image of Nordic grandparents in taca taca walking through areas of Costa Mogán or Playa del Inglés. In most of the world, low fertility has become an urgent problem for policy makers. This is true even in Nordic societies, which, until recently, were seen as a policy model that other countries should adopt in order to increase fertility levels. What is happening?
The average age of Nordic tourists visiting Gran Canaria is around 48 years old. But for long-term stays, it is a different world: the average age of Nordic retirees in the south of Gran Canaria is generally between 65 and 70 years old. This demographic group, which includes a large number of Norwegians, Swedes and Finns, is concentrated in areas such as Arguineguín and San Agustín, where they find favourable climatic conditions, strong community support and a solid health infrastructure.
This community stands out for its longevity and active lifestyle, taking advantage of the island's mild climate, which encourages outdoor activities all year round. The ease of adaptation to life in Gran Canaria, thanks to the existing Nordic community and local services that cater to this population, also plays an important role in attracting these retirees.
Since the 2008 recession, Nordic fertility rates have fallen quite sharply and in a sociologically homogeneous manner, most rapidly in Finland. A study published in Royal Society Open Science highlights that the need for large resources (a high transfer burden) to raise children to adulthood remains stable across all three channels; the total transfer burden is remarkably similar even in societies as different as Sweden and Taiwan.
Switching between these channels does not reduce the burden of parental transfers. Parents do not keep track of how much time and money they spend on raising their children, so these transfers leave few traces. In contrast, taxes and social security contributions (and benefits) are much better recorded in national statistics.
In Europe, parents contribute 2,66 times more resources than non-parents. It is parents, not taxpayers, who bear the greatest burden of social reproduction. Even welfare state benefits are directed mainly to older age groups. Children receive a lot of resources in Europe, but these come mainly from their parents, not from the state. This overall ratio of 2,66 is the population-weighted average for our sample of 12 European countries. But the average for our sample of 10 countries, minus the two Nordic cases, is lower: 2,61.