Inherited poverty and Ryanair pulls out of small airports

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at how the country has Europe’s second highest poverty rate passed on from grandparents to grandchildren, and how Ryanair has begun to make good on its threats of cancelling routes to smaller regional airports.

Spain leads the European rankings for inherited poverty, which according to experts seriously impacts the upbringing and future of children in the country. 

That’s according to the Spanish children’s NGO Plataforma de Infancia, which states that only Romania has a higher rate of poverty being passed on from grandparents to parents and then children. 

A 2022 report commissioned by Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights from the University of Girona reported that “six out of ten children whose grandparents raised their children in difficult economic circumstances are now poor.” 

Plataforma de Infancia states that 10.8 percent of Spanish children and adolescents suffered from a lack of basic resources in 2024, while in 2019 this was 4.8 percent.

UNICEF has also reported that 34.5 percent of Spanish children are at risk of social exclusion, almost 10 points above the European average, and only surpassed by Romania as in the case of inherited poverty.

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Beyond all these stats, what is particularly alarming is that Spain now has the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, but two generations ago the country was considerably poorer.

The government’s optimism about economic growth prospects, something celebrated by the international press as well, contrasts with the difficulties faced by many vulnerable families in Spain vis-à-vis education and jobs.

Even though Spain’s unemployment rate has dropped to 10.4 percent, it is still the highest in the EU. 

In other news, low-cost airline Ryanair has stuck to its guns and carried out the threats it made to Spanish airport operator Aena about reducing its flight routes in Spain due to what it called Aena’s excessive fees.

During these disputes, the low-cost airline had warned that it was considering abandoning some routes that were not sufficiently profitable. Now it’s been confirmed that none of the negotiations over the past months has led Ryanair to reconsider.

Since March 28th, Ryanair has cancelled twelve routes in Spain and closed its bases at the airports of Valladolid and Jerez.

REVEALED: The flight routes to Spain Ryanair will soon cancel

The move has arguably not come as a surprise to either those airports or travellers, as the Irish airline first announced its decision in early 2025.

Furthermore, the company led by Michael O’Leary has also significantly reduced its presence in other smaller regional airports such as Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, Asturias, Zaragoza, and Santander, also as promised.

The low-cost airline’s intention is to reduce its activity at Spanish regional airports and, in return, increase its number of operations at larger airports.

In fact, by the summer of 2025, Ryanair plans to increase its capacity by between 2 and 3 percent at Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Malaga and Alicante airports.

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