How can we prevent Barcelona from losing more children

The tentacles of the housing crisis reach every corner of collective life. According to data obtained by ARA, the loss of school-age population in Barcelona is consolidating as a trend. Enrollment in early childhood education (3-year-olds, I3) has once again dropped to pandemic levels. It is worrying. And, at the same time, it is not easy to reverse, as we are talking about a structural socioeconomic reality.

If we look for the causes, surely the most relevant one behind this decline must be sought in the price of housing, which is forcing young families with children to leave the city due to the rise in flat prices. In fact, the other important factor, the unstoppable decline in birth rates, is also related in some way to the high cost of living, with housing again as the main weighting factor in family unit expenses.

The drop in the number of pre-enrollments cannot, therefore, be attributed to problems with the quality of education, but rather to the complicated socioeconomic situation in Barcelona, where gentrification and population centrifuging are the order of the day. Despite caps on rental prices and the incipient boost to public housing policies, the Catalan capital continues to experience a clear trend of the native population leaving the municipality, and sees, in contrast, other types of inhabitants arriving, both floating tourist population and longer-term expats, while immigration coming to Catalonia is increasingly settling, also due to housing prices, in the metropolitan periphery.

This exodus of young couples impoverishes and ages Barcelona's social fabric and, as seen from the data we provide, has a notable effect on the decrease in the school-age population. A curious but significant fact is that, since the end of 2022, there have been more dogs than children under 12 years old in the city. This has already been noticed in the streets, parks, and gardens.

The effect that this can have on the educational system is that, in the short or medium term, schools may have to close; the most affected could be small subsidized centers, something that, on the other hand, has already happened in recent years. This does not prevent that, due to the growing labor conflict in public centers, a counter-effect favorable to the choice of subsidized schools by families has simultaneously begun to be detected.

In any case, we are facing a phenomenon that must be addressed seriously before it is too late, and that can only be stopped with strong public housing policies, with effective birth rate policies (with direct aid per child to families), with urban planning policies that project friendly environments for the little ones (along the lines defended by Francesco Tonucci) and, without a doubt, also with a high-quality school offer that is an incentive not to leave. It is a challenge as complex as it is necessary for the Catalan capital; a challenge for whose solution the involvement of all administrations is necessary. A city without children is a city without a future.