Between 1990 and 2024, the proportion of children in the total population decreased from 25.2% to 15.5%. Over the same period, the number of live births per thousand women of childbearing age fell from 46.5 to 37.9 and the average age of women at the birth of their first child increased from 24.9 to 30.3 years.
In 2024, 95.7% of 6-year-olds had completed the vaccination plan for measles, mumps and rubella. In the same year, 3.6% of the children were unable to access dental consultations or treatment when needed and 4.5% had some limitation in performing activities considered usual for their age due to long-standing health problems.
In 2025, the proportion of children receiving formal childcare was 57.6% amongst children aged up to 3 old and 43.8% amongst children aged 4 and over.
The number of students enrolled in non-tertiary education in the 2023/2024 school year decreased by 19.5% compared to 1990/1991, with the pre-primary gross enrolment rate rising from 50.7% to 100.6%. In 2022, 76.8% of 15-year-old students had a minimum level of proficiency in reading and 70.2% in mathematics, reflecting, in both cases, a reduction compared to 2012.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate for children up to 17 years old remained higher than that observed for the general population, reaching 17.6% in 2024. In that year, the risk of poverty affected more than a third of the population living in single-parent households and 26.7% in the case of large families.
In 2025, 20.8% of the population in households with children lived in a situation of insufficient housing space (5.7% in households without children) and 10.2% lived in a severe housing deprivation condition (2.5% in households without children).
In 2024, one fifth of children lived in households that were unable to afford at least one week of holiday a year away from home, and a tenth of children were unable to participate regularly in an extracurricular or leisure activity.
The number of beneficiaries, descendants or equivalent, of the family allowance for children and young people per 100 individuals under 25 years of age was, in 2024, higher in the municipalities of the inner mainland.
In 2025, 3,307 crimes against children were recorded, corresponding to the highest number of reports recorded by the police authorities since 2014, highlighting the crimes of domestic violence against minors and sexual abuse of children, adolescents and minors who are dependent or in a particularly vulnerable situation with, respectively, 33.9% and 28.6% of the total.
