The decline of Spain’s population deepened when more deaths than births were recorded in the first six months of 2015.
Deaths exceeded births by more than 19,000 in the first half of the year.
Last year, there were nearly 4,000 more births than deaths, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
This has not happened in modern times other than during the 1918 Spanish flue pandemic and the 1936-39 civil war.
Last year the INE forecast a trend of more deaths than births starting in 2015 and continuing to widen until 2062.
The population, currently more than 46 million, has been going down since 2012 due to a number of factors, not least of which is high unemployment forcing people to seek work abroad.
The low birth rate is likely to exacerbate the decline.
Spain’s high rate of people flocking to cities has left many rural villages either deserted or with older people struggling to cope with diminishing services.
Spain is not alone in having to deal with a drop in the labour force at the same time as increasing demands on the welfare system. PM Mariano Rajoy has promised to protect pensions as part of his electioneering.
But Spain does have the 10th oldest population in the world. The average age is 43.2 years.
The country is projected to move up to fourth oldest, with an average age of 50.1 years by 2030, according to a United Nations report in July.
That report said that Europe is the continent most affected by an ageing population. It said that 34% of Europeans would be over 60 years of age by 2050.
