Press release 07/06/2012

MUNICIPAL INHABITANTS STATISTICS (EMH) OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY TO THE 1ST OF JANUARY 2011

The Basque Country is one of the communities with the lowest proportion of individuals born abroad

Only three municipalities in the Basque Country have a percentage of the population born abroad higher than that of Spain as a whole

On the 1st of January 2011 in the Basque Country the population born abroad stood at 176,049, or 8.1% of the total population, a long way from the proportion recorded in Spain, which stood at 14.2%, according to data provided by Eustat. On this point, the Basque Country was aligned with Asturias, Galicia and Castilla y León, where the population born abroad did not exceed 8%.

Graphic 2: Percentage of people born abroad by municipality

Source: EUSTAT. Municipal Statistics on Inhabitants. 1st of January 2011

Of the 54 municipalities that have a proportion of people born abroad greater than that of the Basque Country as a whole, 21 are in Álava and, of those, 13 exceed 10%, the majority being from the region of Rioja Alavesa. In contrast, there are only two municipalities that exceed the percentage of Spain as a whole, Berriatua (14.5%) and Samaniego (17%).

On the other hand, there are 10 municipalities that have practically no resident population born abroad, that is, they have a percentage under 2%. Of these municipalites, 7 are in Gipuzkoa, whilst in Bizkaia there is no municipality with these characteristics. With the exception of Berastegi, these municipalities have less than 500 inhabitants.

The provincial capitals had percentages of the population born abroad higher than that of the Basque Country as a whole, with the highest proportion being in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where it stood at 11.6%; In Bilbao it stood at 10.1% and Donostia-San Sebastián it reached 8.8% of the total population.

Contrary to what is happening in Spain as a whole, there are more residents in the Basque Country who have nationality from Latin American countries

Residents in the Basque Country with nationality of Latin American countries accounted for 45% of the total of foreign residents, whereas in Spain as a whole this figure hardly exceeded 29%. In this group, South American countries accounted for the majority: Columbia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil made up 26.5% of the total foreigners, and 59% of American countries.

On the other hand, residents from European countries in the Basque Country accounted for 26.7% of foreigners, compared to nearly 46% in Spain. In this group Romanians are worthy of special mention, where they accounted for 10.7% of the total number of foreigners, whilst in Spain the figure was 14%; paradoxically Romanians made up 40% of Europeans, 7 percentage points more than Spain as a whole. The Portuguese, although lower in number than the aforementioned, had a significantly greater representation in the Basque Country than in Spain as a whole compared to the total for European countries, standing at 21.7% and 5.4%, respectively.

Nationals from African countries provided a similar proportion to the total in Spain, that is, 21.9% compared to 18.9%, but it stands out that in Spain Moroccans made up 71.3% of all African nationals, whereas in the Basque Country this figure did not reach 50%. The second nationality of this group in terms of importance in the Basque Country was Algerian, with 16.8% against 5.6% in Spain.

Chinese and Pakistani nationals had a presence amongst foreigners of 5.1%, one percentage point higher than in Spain, with it being particularly noteworthy that in the Basque Country they were practically the only representatives of the Asian nations, given that they made up 80%, whilst in Spain as a whole they did not reach 69%.

If we take into account the provincial capitals, variations can be seen in the distribution of nationalities by continents. Thus in Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián over 50% of foreigners had nationality from American countries, but in Bilbao Bolivians and Columbians accounted for 51% of nationalities from this continent, whilst in Donostia-San Sebastián there was a more uneven distribution.

In these two municipalities the distribution of Europeans and Africans was different, with Europeans having more weight in Donostia-San Sebastián, due to the number of French nationals (31.5%), compared to 8% of African nationals. The difference was not so noticeable in Bilbao, with Africans making up 21.9% compared to 16.5% Europeans.



In Vitoria-Gasteiz the distribution amongst groups of nationalities by continents was not so uneven, due to the fact that, although American nationals were the most numerous, they only made up 38.1% of foreigners. Following these were the residents with nationality from African countries, with a difference of less than 4 percentage points. In this group Algerians made up the greater number, accounting for 26%, whilst in the Basque Country as a whole they stood at just below 17%. Europeans reached 19.3%, with the Portugese and Romanians being the nationalities with the most residents from this continente, standing at 51% of the total, with almost identical percentages. In Bilbao Romanians accounted for 46.2% of all Europeans, whilst in Donostia-San Sebastián they only accounted for 13.4%.

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 Further press releases on Municipal Inhabitants Statistics of the Basque Country Municipal Inhabitants Statistics of the Basque Country databank