(MENAFN- Costa Rica News) The post Costa Rica Has Four Times More Dogs and Cats than Children in Our Homes appeared first on The Costa Rica News.

The country has four times more furry friends than children under 12 confirms the aging problem we are experiencing. Gabriela Solano and Bryan Blanco have been together for more than 10 years and are one of the many families in the country who have opted to have pets instead of children.

Cases like theirs mean that in Costa Rica there are four times more dogs and cats than children under 12 in our homes, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).

With this in mind, we decided to talk to this young couple, and to the INEC, to bring up a topic that interests everyone and that is the way in which the country is aging.

Gaby and Bryan say that their family, especially the closest one, has always known and respected the decision they made, but they also assure that there is never a lack of acidic comments from those more traditional members who ask them to“rethink”.

“We aspire to have a life where we can move freely around the world and we think that a child requires a stable and somewhat more rooted life, which would limit our life plan,” they say.“Also, we are not comfortable with the amount of money needed to give a baby an adequate quality of life,” they argue.

Now, that does not mean that they do not want to form their own family and this is where Pan Dulce, their adorable cat, comes into play. With his pointy ears, his blue eyes and a personality between hyperactive and shy, Pancito, as they affectionately call him, came to illuminate their lives and give them that feeling of unity.

“We wanted the company of an animal while working from home and, in the end, we decided on a cat, because it requires less maintenance than a dog and of course much less than a human baby. For us, the concept of family would not require a biological child. So, in a certain way, Pancito satisfies our minimum paternal needs.”

The normal

What was once strange has now become the new normal because more and more couples are deciding to unite under the same roof, but are totally convinced not to have children.

According to Eddy Madrigal Méndez, general coordinator of the National Household Survey (ENAHO) of the INEC, there are 1,821,955 homes in Costa Rica, where 1,783,871 dogs (953,637 males and 830,234 females) and 775,693 cats (349,657 males and 426,036 females) live. In total, 2,597,648 furry ones. Guess how many children under 12 years old are in those same homes... Only 690 thousand!

What's going on?

To understand this behavior, we sought out sociologist and political scientist Carlos Carranza Villalobos.“The lack of children in our homes is a phenomenon that has been identified since 1995. Just as the political and economic behavior of a country's population changes, so does social behavior. Countries with greater economic capacity are moving in the direction of having very few children in homes. The new generations have a greater understanding of the living conditions that are faced when having children,” explains the sociologist.

It has been proven, says the expert, that in societies with fewer children there is an increase in pets and that these animals are increasingly humanized, which is why we see dogs with clothes and being treated like a human child.

“When a country does not have a young population that causes an adequate replacement, values ​​are transformed, the quality of life worsens, the workforce is seriously diminished and human relations are affected. Costa Rica has a serious problem that will come in less than 20 years, it must be addressed right now,” he said.

Fears and concerns

Family psychologist, María Ester Flores, knows perfectly well this reality of young couples without desire to have children.“Every day I see couples in my office and most of them say no to motherhood, they prefer a thousand times to have a dog or a cat to fill the home with joy and have something to do. I have been able to confirm that these couples are afraid of the economy of the country and the world. They analyze that the planet is running out of water, that there is a lot of talk about atomic bombs and they consider that this world today is not safe, so they feel that bringing a new life is putting it in danger,” says the psychologist.

The INEC data on the aging of our society is truly frightening

“The population is aging due to the increase in life expectancy at birth and the decrease in fertility levels. Life expectancy at birth, which increased from 76.95 years in 1990 to 80.91 years in 2024, is expected to increase even further, reaching 84.27 years in 2050 and 89.57 in 2100 total fertility rate, which fell from 3.26 children per woman in 1990 to 1.23 in 2024, will decrease even further, with Costa Rica projected to reach a minimum rate of 1.14 children per woman in 2031, and then, starting in 2050, stabilize at 1.26,” says INEC.

“The country is showing a sustained slowdown in growth, and there will even come a time when the population will begin to decline, which is projected to happen around 2045. The population for 2025 will be 5,191,823, reaching a maximum value in 2044 of 5,439,639 and from there, the gradual decline will begin,” INEC predicts.

The post Costa Rica Has Four Times More Dogs and Cats than Children in Our Homes appeared first on The Costa Rica News.

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