The two pie charts delineate the proportional age distribution of British tourists travelling to Spain, comparing data from 1983 and 2003.
Overall, despite the 35-54 age bracket consistently constituting the largest demographic, the period witnessed a marked shift towards a more bifurcated age structure, characterised by significant surges in both the youngest adult segment and the elderly cohort.
Regarding the categories that experienced a decline, the dominance of the 35-54 age group, while remaining preeminent, eroded substantially, tumbling from a half (50%) of all visitors in 1983 to just over a third (35%) two decades later. Similarly, the 25-34 demographic also saw a considerable contraction, with its proportion plummeting from one-fifth to a mere 12% by 2003.
Conversely, the most dramatic increases were recorded among the youngest and oldest visitors. The share of those aged 16-24 skyrocketed nearly fourfold, leaping from a negligible 4% to a substantial 15%. A parallel upward trajectory was observed for the over-55s, whose representation surged by 10 percentage points to reach 26%, thereby overtaking the 25-34 group to become the second-largest category in 2003. Meanwhile, the proportion of children under 15 remained relatively stable, registering only a marginal rise of 2% over the two decades.