9,024 more persons came to than left the A.C. of the Basque Country during 2004, which represents a 44% increase with regard to 2003. This is the fifth consecutive year that registered a positive migratory balance for the A.C. of the Basque Country, according to Eustat data.

By provinces, Bizkaia, with a gain of 5,099 persons, presented the highest migratory balance in absolute figures and increased by 27% with regard to the previous year. Álava, with a gain of 3,299 persons from migration, presented an increase of almost 50% - the migratory balance in particular increased by 47%- with regard to the previous year. In turn, Gipuzkoa gained 626 persons.

Positive migratory balance due to arrival of people from abroad

If we take into account only movement between the A.C. of the Basque Country and other autonomous communities, 380 persons fewer than the previous year arrived in 2004, which represents a decrease of slightly over 20%. Therefore, the migratory balance between the A.C. of the Basque Country and other autonomous communities continues to be negative, with a loss of 2,640 persons. On the other hand, the migratory balance for persons from foreign countries is positive, with 11,664 persons more, a figure which represents a 20% increase with regard to the previous year.

Altogether, 180,357 changes of usual residence were registered in the A.C. of the Basque Country:

- Of this figure, exactly 87,494 correspond to changes of address within the same municipality.

- Intra-community mobility, i.e. when the origin and destination are different municipalities in the A.C. of the Basque Country, came to 41,231 movements.

- In addition, 30.328 external or extracommunity immigrations were registered, where the origin was outside the Community and the destination is the A.C. of the Basque Country.

- Finally, there were 21,304 external or extracommunity emigrations, i.e. variations in residence with the origin in a municipality in the autonomous community and with a destination outside.

Geographic mobility and the emigration rate of the A.C. of the Basque Country are low with regard to the state average

8.5% of the Basque population carried out a change of residence during 2004, mobility being 71.3% within the Basque Country itself, while in other cases, mobility was extracommunity.

External or extracommunity geographic mobility, which affected 24.4 in every thousand inhabitants of the A.C. of the Basque Country during 2004 (Álava 32.7‰, Bizkaia 26‰ and Gipuzkoa 18.2‰), is relatively low if compared with the rest of the autonomous communities, where 40 in every thousand inhabitants move home.

The emigration rate of the A.C. of the Basque Country was 10,05‰ in 2004, but if we exclude data for foreign emigrations it falls to 9.15‰, almost four points below the average for the whole of the autonomous communities. Ranked above average, the communities of Madrid, La Rioja, Baleares and Ceuta-Melilla surpass the A.C. of the Basque Country with rates that vary between 17‰ and 38‰.

The autonomous communities that contribute more population to the A.C. of the Basque Country than they receive are the Canaries, Madrid, Murcia, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia and Baleares. There is also a positive balance of 11,664 persons in relation to foreign countries in 2004.

The autonomous communities that are a pole of attraction for emigrants from the A.C. of the Basque Country are in the following order: Cantabria, Castile and León, Madrid and Navarre. Between the four of them they receive half the people who leave our Community.

Immigration of people with foreign nationality came to 13,563 persons in 2004, a similar figure to the previous year (175 foreign immigrants fewer), and represent 45% of the total entries in our Community. Since 1988 there has been a considerable increase in the volume of foreign nationality immigrant entries registered in the A.C. of the Basque Country. In absolute values, the figure has risen from 500 entries to over 13,000 in 2004, i.e. foreign immigration has multiplied by 27 in fifteen years. We must bear in mind that part of the foreign immigration comes from other autonomous communities. This occurred in precisely 4,682 cases in 2004.

With regard to the level of qualifications, the lowest levels represent 51.25% in immigrations and 50.5% in emigrations, while higher levels represent 16.6% in emigrations and 18% in immigrations.

The average age of emigrants, 36.,4 years, is very similar to immigrants, 36.7 years.