Press Release 29/10/2021

POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS. 2021

The population of the Basque Country grew by 16,622 between 2016 and 2021

The growth was concentrated among those aged 65 and over, 33,000 more people, whereas there was a slight increase in those aged under 20 (+749) and the bulk of the working population fell by 17,000

The resident population of the Basque Country on 1 January 2021 stood at 2,193,199 people, according to Eustat data. This was 16,622 more people than in 2016.

This figure is below that posted on 1 January 2020, 6,512 fewer people, breaking the upward trend that began in 2016.

All three provinces experienced population growth between 2016 and 2021, but the increases were uneven. Gipuzkoa gained the most population, with 6,768 more residents, followed by Álava with 6,300 more, while Bizkaia grew by 3,554 inhabitants. Although in absolute numbers there was a greater increase in Gipuzkoa than in Álava, in relative terms the increase was 2.4% in Álava compared to 1.2% in Gipuzkoa.

Over these 5 years Bilbao was the only capital where the population decreased, specifically 410 fewer people. Vitoria experienced the highest increase, with 4,963 more people, while San Sebastían saw its population increase by 1,430 new residents.

The evolution by region over these five years reflects that three regions in Álava and one in Bizkaia had growth over 3%: Montaña Alavesa (6.4%), Añana (5.5%), Plentzia-Mungia (4%) and Estribaciones del Gorbea (3.1%).

Plentzia-Mungia had almost 59,000 residents and there were three municipalities that saw growth in excess of 5%; of particular note was Urduliz, with 17.7%; followed by Gorliz, with 6.5% and Bakio, with 5.9%. The population fell in four regions, although in both absolute and relative terms the drop was limited. These regions, in order of highest to lowest decreases, were: Alto Deba (-0.24%), Bajo Deba (-0.14%), Cantábrica Alavesa (-0.12%) and Gran Bilbao (-0.07%).

The population aged 65 and over represented almost a quarter of the Basque Country population

The age distribution of the Basque population changed over the course of these five years, leading to an increase in the number of people at the very top of the population pyramid.

The number of residents aged 65 and over accounted for 23% of the population, which was nearly 3 percentage points higher than the figure for Spain. This age group is 7% larger than it was in 2016, and it is significant that within this group the number of people reaching 85 was 15.3% higher than in 2016. Finally, if we consider the population aged 100 and over, we see that it has grown by 20.1% since 2016.

If we take gender into account, the proportion of women who are 65 or over was 25.6% compared to 20.2% of men. These differences continue into the older population; thus, women who were 85 or over in the Basque Country represented 5.4% of the total, whereas in the case of men, the percentage dropped to 2.7%.

Regionally, there was a notably high proportion of people aged over 64 in Montaña Alavesa, reaching 26.2% of the total, while the next regions with higher percentages were Markina-Ondarroa (24.4%) and Cantábrica Alavesa (23.4%), with proportions similar to those in Alto Deba and Gran Bilbao (24.1% in both cases). The lowest values are those of Plentzia-Mungia (18%) and Estribaciones del Gorbea (19.4%).

There was quite a lot of disparity between the Basque municipalities regarding the age of the resident population and, more specifically, the percentage of people 65 and over, which varied between 10.2% in Irura and 38.1% in Harana/Valle de Arana. In addition to Irura, there were another six municipalities that had a percentage below 13%: Larraul, Astigarraga, Baliarrain, Iruña Oka/Iruña de Oca, Alegria-Dulantzi and Arakaldo.

In the Basque Country, there were 1.6 people aged 65 and over for every minor aged under 16, exceeding the figure for Spain as a whole, which was 1.2, but still far from that for Asturias, which is 2.2.

There are 74 municipalities which exceed this figure, with extreme cases such as Harana/Valle de Arana, Añana and Lagrán with a figure of around 5 to1. Conversely, municipalities such as Irura and Baliarrain, had more than 2 young people aged 0 to15 for each person aged 65 and over.

Population distribution by age is most extreme in small municipalities, due above all to their small size and the fact that any demographic phenomena, particularly migration, modifies this distribution.

The population aged under 20 has increased by just 0.2% over the past five years, below the total population increase (0.8%), proportionately standing at 18.2% of the total population of the Basque Country, one tenth less than in 2016. There was no significant variation in the provinces either, although there were differences between them, in Álava and Gipuzkoa the population aged under 20 reached around 19%, whereas in Bizkaia it fell by 17.5%. By regions, Montaña Alavesa and Cantábrica Alavesa saw the greatest increase in the young population over the last five years, with increases of 12.1% and 3.5%, respectively. The regions with the highest proportion of the population under the age of 20 were Urola Kosta, Tolosaldea and Plentzia-Mungia, all around 21%.

The proportion of residents aged between 20 and 64, the bulk of the working population, fell between 2016 and 2021, going from 60% to 58.8%. By province, Bilbao lost the most population, down 1.8%, followed by Gipuzkoa and Álava with decreases of 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively. In 2021, the percentage of the working population was the same in Álava and Bizkaia (59.1%) followed by Gipuzkoa with 58.1%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel.: 945 01 75 62