Press Release 13/11/2014
Migrations in the Basque Country posted a negative balance of nearly 2,000 people
The migratory balance with other Autonomous Regions was positive by 3,220 people and with foreign countries was negative by 5,176 people
The overall migratory balance of the Basque Country was negative by 1,956 people in 2013, according to data prepared by EUSTAT. The two components of this balance performed in a different way: the balance between the Basque Country and the other Autonomous Regions was positive by 3,220 people, whereas the balance with foreign countries was negative by 5,176 people.
By province, Bizkaia lost 3,426 people, the only province to post a negative migratory balance and the highest in absolute figures; Gipuzkoa, for its part, posted a positive balance of 1,388 people and Álava gained 82 people through migration. By capitals, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Donostia-San Sebastián had positive balances of 270 and 38 people, respectively, whilst Bilbao posted a negative balance of 1,447 people.
Basque geographical mobility is small compared to other Autonomous Regions
In 2013 external or extra-community geographical mobility, which involved 32 per thousand inhabitants of the Basque Country (Álava 37.9‰, and Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa 31.1‰), was 4 points below the other autonomous regions, where 36 inhabitants per thousand moved on average.
With the exception of the Autonomous Regions of Madrid, Galicia and Extremadura, the other Autonomous Regions contributed more population to the Basque Country than they received from it.
The Autonomous Regions that attracted the emigrants from the Basque Country were as follows, in order: Madrid; Castilla y León; Cantabria; Cataluña; Andalucía and Navarra. Between them they received 65% of the people who left our Region for other Autonomous Regions of the State.
The immigrants that came to the Basque Country were mostly from Castilla y León, Madrid, Cataluña, Cantabria, Andalucía and Comunidad Valenciana. These six Autonomous Regions also provided 64% of total immigration from the rest of Spain.
In 2013 immigrations of foreign nationals stood at 18,239 individuals. 7,360 of these came to the Basque Country from other Autonomous Regions, especially from Catalonia, Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana, Andalusia and Castilla y León. The remaining 10,879 foreign immigrants came directly from abroad.
Emigrations of foreign nationals rose to 19,356. Almost half of those who left our Region were foreign nationals: specifically 54% of all emigrants. The destination for 77% of them was abroad.
The average age of the emigrants (35.2 years old) was slightly higher than that of the immigrants (33.2 years old). If the gender of the population in question is taken into account, 53% of immigrants were men and 47% women, whilst the difference between the sexes was greater in the case of emigrants: 55% men and 45% women.
9.9% of the Basque population changed their place of residence in 2013, with the mobility on 68% of the occasions being within the Basque Country, whilst in the other cases the mobility was extra-community.
In total, 216,653 changes of normal places of residency were recorded in the Basque Country. From this figure, 97,927 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 48,796 movements. There were also 33,987 extra-community or external immigrations, which are those that have their origin outside the Autonomous Region and where the destination is the Basque Country. Of these immigrations, 12,632 came from abroad. Finally, there were 35,943 cases of external or extra-community emigration, in other words, residential variations originating in a municipality of the Autonomous Region and with the destination outside it, 17,808 of which were to destinations abroad.
Methodological note
The 2013 Statistics of Migratory Movements reclassified some of the registered entries of cancellations for undue inscription or cancellations by expiration as emigrations, especially those corresponding to foreign nationals and taking into account the available information.
This was due to the significant increase in the number of these types of administrative expirations in recent years, as well as the difficulty that trips abroad pose to the direct census.
A similar procedure was adopted, although involving smaller numbers, in the case of foreign immigrants that appeared hidden under the label "registrations by omission", which affected the number of immigrations registered in 2013.
Eustat will soon review the series of emigrations and immigrations of recent years, applying the 2013 methodology.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Online press releases about migratory movements in the Basque Country
Databank on migratory movements in the Basque Country