Spain performs poorly on two measures of intergenerational justice, but is close to the OECD average overall.

Do governments prioritise the interests of older generations over those of younger citizens? Pieter Vanhuysse outlines results of a study on ‘intergenerational justice’, with a particular focus on how Spain ranks relative to other OECD members. His results show that while Spain performs poorly on two measures – the impact of Spain’s ecological footprint on future generations, and child poverty levels – the country’s overall ‘intergenerational justice’ score is close to the OECD average. The impact of Spain’s economic crisis may nevertheless reduce this score in future if it exacerbates some of the existing inequalities within Spanish society.