This article is a submission from the newsletter by Kiko Llaneras, a newsletter for EL PAÍS subscribers: sign up here.
You may remember that week at the beginning of May when all that was talked about was Pedro Sánchez’s letter. I then decided to write this newsletter about something else and ended up sending six interesting graphs. What was my surprise? The text was very successful. So, now that we are in August, I have thought about repeating the formula. Below you have six interesting graphs about income levels, separated parents, bisexuality, books, football and differences between generations.
💰 1. How high is your income? To be in the richest 20%, 43,000 euros is enough
I have updated this chart with the latest available data. in the World Income Database. You can see where your income is compared to that of the Spanish.
With an annual gross income of 23,700 euros, you are in the middle class; you earn more than half of Spaniards and less than the other. If you earn more than 43,000 euros, you belong to the richest 20%, at least relatively, and if you earn more than 58,000 euros, you are among the top 10%. What does it take to be 1% in Spain? About 150,000 euros.
The chart shows income figures, but you can see the same by wealth with data from 2021. Just a warning: our incomes have not risen as much as it seems. Part of the increase is a methodological update, and then there is inflation, which makes €49,000 in 2021 €57,000 now.
😀 2. For the first time in Spain, divorced parents are the majority who share custody
The crossing It was discovered by Angel MartinezThis is a significant change, because just 10 years ago the situation was very different: 76% of custody arrangements were for mothers, and only 18% involved mothers and fathers equally.
It is a profound social change that goes unnoticed. In fact, the role of fathers has been changing for some time. Another example is paternity leave. Paternity leave was extended to 16 weeks, but the new law only made it mandatory to take 6 of them. Many advocates of the change were pessimistic, believing that most men – out of desire or under pressure – would soon return to work. But we have not done that: 90% of fathers enjoy the full 16 weeks.
🏳️🌈 3. Many young people declare themselves bisexual
In Spain, 4% of people describe themselves as bisexual, according to a recent study CIS studyBut there are big and interesting differences by age: they are 1% among people over 55 years old, compared to 16% between 18 and 24 years old. In this last group, there are twice as many girls (22%) as boys (10%).
Defining oneself as homosexual is also more common among young people than among older people. Is it because there are more homosexuals now or because they are more public now? I would say both: in a more liberal world, there will be more young people who are free to say that they are homosexual, but also free to be so.
📚 4. Did the Internet kill reading? On the contrary: there are more book readers than there were twenty years ago
Most people think that we read less, but I’m not sure that’s true. First, because there are tons of interesting things to read on mobile phones, in forums, networks, digital newspapers or newsletters. When I was a child, back in the nineties, it was normal to be left without reading: you read the ingredients of the Kelloggs.
In addition, statistics say that more people read books. According to the Editors Guild surveythe percentage of people who read books in their free time is growing.
The reading population has increased from 59% to 64% since 2012. There are more women (69%) and young people (74%), although the group that is growing the most is those over 65 years of age.
I’m willing to concede that many of us read less in quantity, measured in books or pages, because part of our time is spent on Twitter threads, video games, Netflix or YouTube. But I’m not worried, because I believe that these formats are also a source of ideas, learning and fun.
🏆 5. Spanish football is on an amazing run
In June I wrote about the nine Champions League finals that Madrid has won in a row, without a miss since 1998, achieving a full house that represents a probabilistic abnormality.
But it is better than that. Spanish men’s football, taking clubs and national teams together, has won all the finals it has played since 2002: 23 victories out of 23 matches.
In twenty years, Madrid has won seven Champions League finals and Barcelona four, without a stumble. In the Europa League, Sevilla has won six out of six, and they have not lost the ones played by Atlético, Villarreal and Valencia. In addition, the men’s team has won all four of its top-level finals, adding three Euro Cups (2008, 2012 and 2024) and one World Cup (2010).
How can this sequence be explained? I have no idea. But if I have to give an answer, I’ll stick with the boring one: it must have been largely a coincidence.
❤️ 6. Which decade has the best movies, the best music, and the happiest families? Whichever one makes you nostalgic
As I mentioned in the previous post, when asked which decade has the best music, most people choose the one that was played in their youth. Americans born in 1950 choose the 70s, those born in 1970 choose the 80s, and millennials choose the 90s.
But it’s not just music. The pattern is repeated with lots of things. Many people feel that the decade with the best movies, the best television and even the happiest families is precisely the one that coincides with their youth or childhood.
The result tells us a lot about us. On the one hand, it is normal for your tastes to form when you are young, when you are growing up. And it is also natural for those years to leave their mark on you: if you discover cinema with certain films, it is inevitable that they will be special to you.
But the essential thing is nostalgia.
The songs from when you were twenty are the only ones that can evoke your twenties. It’s impossible to compete with a tune that takes you back to a certain night in 1976, or 1998, or 2016. You can’t make movies that improve on that DVD you watched a hundred times, or the VHS tapes your mother brought back from the video store.
It is absurd to deny the power of our biography. That is why I try to refrain from judging the tastes of the new young people, their books, their games, their songs or their hobbies. It is my way of avoiding the ridicule of thinking that my opinion matters to them.
This article is a submission from the newsletter by Kiko Llaneras, a newsletter for EL PAÍS subscribers: sign up here.
