Southern District

Two areas of the city draw a very different panorama: Southern District (Arcosur, Valdespartera, Rosales del Canal, Montecanal) and Miralbueno . They are the neighborhoods where there are clearly more children than adults , with a demographic structure that is more similar to that of a young municipality in the metropolitan area than to that of a mature European capital.

• 
  The new construction building in Zaragoza that challenges the 'zebra blocks' and opts for a ground-breaking design
  

The recently published registry data and the Ebropolis allow us to draw a precise x-ray: large households, high presence of minors, strong weight of the 35-49 age group, educational levels well above the average and incomes above the Zaragoza average.

Youth index: the big gap with the rest of the city

The key indicator to understand these neighborhoods is the youth index , which relates the population under 15 years of age to that of 65 and over:

• 
  Southern District : youth index of 400% and childhood index of 27% . That is, there are four minors for every person over 65 years old , and more than one in every four neighbors is under 15 years old.
  

• 
  MiralBueno : 21% childhood and youth index of 199% . Almost twice as many children as those over 65 .
  

By comparison, in the central districts of Zaragoza (Centro, Universidad, La Almozara...) the relationship tends to be reversed or balanced, with more adults than children and average ages around 48–50 years . In MiralBueno, the average age is 37.2 years ; in the Southern District, just slightly above 36 . In the city as a whole, the average is now over 45 years old , so we are talking about a gap of 8–9 years .

• 
  The Zaragoza neighborhood that was born out of an emergency: the origin of Actur and its curious name
  

MiralBueno: young, highly educated population with large homes

MiralBueno has 13,436 inhabitants , around 2% of the population of Zaragoza , in an area of ​​8.22 km² , which represents a density of 1,693 inhabitants/km² . It is a relatively sparse neighborhood, residential in nature and with a strong presence of single-family homes or low-rise blocks.

In social terms, it presents a very defined profile: average household size : 2.9 people (above the 2.4 on average in Zaragoza), single-person households : 19.2% (well below the 32% of the city) and foreign population : around 5–6% , a rate lower than the average for the capital.

The most relevant data is at the educational level. People without studies or only with compulsory education: 28.4% in Zaragoza compared to approx. 9–10% in Miralbueno (according to partial data, 9.31% appear as “without education”). Regarding higher education (university, intermediate degrees, doctorates, postgraduate degrees): 48.33% in Miralbueno, well above the municipal average.

It is, therefore, a neighborhood with very high human capital , which combines youth and training. Its average income per person , about 15,406 euros segment upper-middle income in the context of Zaragoza.

• 
  How many homes will Arcosur 2.0 be able to 'engulf'? The new phase already has a roadmap
  

The population pyramid reinforces this idea: those under 15 years of age and groups between 35 and 54 years old , while the population over 65 is small. The masculinity index (99.1 men per 100 women) is higher than that of the city (around 92), something common in young neighborhoods with a strong presence of families of active age.

Southern District: the great hub of young families

The Southern District , which brings together Arcosur, Valdespartera, Rosales del Canal and Montecanal , concentrates 5.3% of the homes in Zaragoza , about 15,200 . Here, too, the household structure is significant: single-person households : 26.6% (less than 32% in the city), average household size : 2.6 people (compared to 2.4 in Zaragoza).

In demographic terms, the South District replicates, even more markedly, the Miralbueno pattern: a higher proportion of people aged 0 to 14 and 15 to 49 years than the city average, a much lower percentage of the population aged 50 and over, a very low presence of people over 85 years of age.

Despite its youth, the district presents a reality that breaks the stereotype of “dormitory neighborhoods” with a vulnerable population: average income per household and per person : well above the Zaragoza average; educational level : proportion of people without education or only with compulsory education much lower than the average , and percentage of university graduates much higher .

In summary, Southern District has established itself as a large center of young middle class , with a high level of education and purchasing power, and with a very notable weight of childhood in its population pyramid.

Home structure: this is how they are

Household data helps to understand why there are more children than grandparents and how this affects daily life and urban planning:

• 
  In MiralBueno , the number of single-person households is low and the average household size is 2.9 people , which suggests a strong presence of families with children . More than 200 people aged 65 and over live alone , but the number of young people aged 25 to 34 who live alone is even higher, which indicates a combination of young families and a population in transition to forming a new family unit.
  

• 
  In the Southern District , 26.6% of single-person households are still lower than the city average and the average size of 2.6 also points to a predominance of family units.
  

Furthermore, although in both neighborhoods there are elderly people who live alone, their volume and relative weight is much lower than in the Juntas with an aging population. For example, in the Southern District there are an estimated 321 people aged 65 and over living alone , of which only 6.2% are over 85 years old (around 20 people).

The Zaragoza that is coming

If you look at the city in terms of a demographic pyramid, the Southern District and Miralbueno are the widest “base” : a lot of childhood, a lot of the active-age population, and little of the elderly population.

In a context of general aging and falling birth rates, these two neighborhoods are proof that Zaragoza still has pockets of demographic renewal and that the city of the future is already being built in those blocks where backpacks, strollers and schoolyards abound.

The question, from the perspective of urban planning, is no longer just whether there are more children than grandparents there, but whether Zaragoza will be able to accompany that generation with the services, equipment and opportunities it needs to continue being, in a few years, the driving force of the city.