Press release 23/01/2012
The migratory balance for the Basque Country continued to be positive in 2010, although it fell by 2%
As in the previous year, there was a positive migratory balance between the Basque Country and the other Autonomous Communities
2010 is the eleventh consecutive year in which a positive migratory balance was posted for the Basque Country. Specifically, 13,028 more people came to the Basque Country than left. However, this figure is 2% below that of 2009, according to data provided by Eustat.
By provinces, Bizkaia, which gained 6,562 people, had the highest migratory balance in absolute figures and was down 11% compared to 2009. Gipuzkoa, which gained 2,564 people, saw its balance increase by 17% with respect to the previous year. For its part, Álava gained 3,902 people, which was an increase of 6%. By capitals, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Bilbao had positive balances of 3,164 and 1,721 people, respectively, whilst Donostia-San Sebastián posted a slightly negative balance of 94.
In relation to the movements that occur between the Basque Country and the other Autonomous Communities, there was a positive balance of 3,686 people in 2010. It was the second consecutive year since Eustat started publishing these statistics in which there were more immigrations to the Basque Country from other Autonomous Communities than emigrations from it.
The migratory balance for people coming from overseas was positive, standing at 9342 people. However, it was down by 460 (-4.7%) in absolute numbers with respect to the previous year.
9.1% of the Basque population changed their place of residence in 2010, with the mobility on 72% of the occasions being within the Basque Country, whilst in the other cases the mobility was extra-community.
In total, 197,768 changes of normal places of residency were recorded in the Basque Country:
- From this figure, 94,784 were changes of address within the same municipality.
- Intra-community mobility, in other words, where the origin and destination are different municipalities of the Basque Country, stood at 47,544 movements.
- There were also 34,234 extra-community or external immigrations, which are those that have their origin outside the Autonomous Community and where the destination is the Basque Country. Of these immigrations, 12,695 came from abroad.
- Finally, there were 21,206 cases of external or extra-community emigration, in other words, residential variations originating in a municipality of the Autonomous Community and with the destination outside it, 3,353 of which were to destinations abroad.
Basque geographical mobility is on a much smaller scale if compared to the other Autonomous Communities
External or extra-community geographical mobility, which involved 25.6 per thousand inhabitants of the Basque Country (Álava 32.3‰, Bizkaia 26.1‰ and Gipuzkoa 21.6‰) in 2010, was relatively small if compared to the other autonomous communities, where 40 per thousand inhabitants moved on average.
With the exception of the Autonomous Communities of Galicia, Cantabria, Navarra and Extremadura, the other Autonomous Communities contributed more population to the Basque Country than they received from it.
The Autonomous Communities that constituted a hub of attraction for emigrants from the Basque Country were, in the following order: Castilla y León, Cantabria, Madrid, Catalonia, Navarra and Andalusia. Between them they received 66% of the people who left our Community for other Autonomous Communities of the State.
The number of foreign immigrants came to 20,184 in 2010 (44% of whom came to the Basque Country from other Autonomous Communities) and accounted for 59% of the total entries into our Community. For the third consecutive year, from 2000, there was a drop in the number of foreign immigrants moving to the Basque Country, specifically, 1,219 less (-5.7%) than in the previous year. In 2010, 8,852 foreign immigrants were recorded as moving to the Basque Country from other Autonomous Communities. More than half, 4,885 people, originated from Madrid, Catalonia, Comunidad Valenciana and Andalusia.
As far as the level of education was concerned, 65% of immigrants and 66% of emigrants had completed primary education, whilst the figures for immigrants and emigrants who had completed higher or further education stood at 14% and 13%, respectively.
The average age of the emigrants (36.1 years old) was higher than that of the immigrants (31.5 years old). If the gender variable of the population in question is taken into account, 53% of immigrants were men and 47% women, whilst the difference between the sexes was lower in the case of emigrants: 52% men and 48% women.
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tel:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es
Contact: Martín González Hernández
Tel:+34-945-01 75 49 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Online press releases about migratory movements in the Basque Country
Databank on migratory movements in the Basque Country