Press Release 13/12/2021

POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS. 2021

The number of foreign residents in the Basque Country grew by almost 25,000 between 2016 and 2021

However, over the last year, the number of foreign nationals residing in the Basque Country fell by just over 2,000

Foreign residents of the Basque Country amounted to 182,849 people, 8.3% of the population on 1 January 2021, according to Eustat data. The number of foreign nationals residing in the Basque Country has increased by 25,000 since 2016, but fell by just over 2,000 in 2021.

The percentage of foreign nationals varied slightly between provinces: Álava had the highest proportion with 9.7% (0.6 percentage points more than in 2016), followed by Gipuzkoa with 8.5% (1.1 points more) and finally, Bizkaia, with 7.9% (1.3 points more).

Latin American nationals were the most common among foreign residents of the Basque Country

Regarding nationality, Latin Americans represented 40.7% of foreign nationals. The percentage rose in relation to 2016, when nationals from Latin America made up 37.2% of the total number of foreigners. Colombia and Nicaragua stood out in this group, accounting for 37.4% of people of Latin American nationality. Women represented 60.5% of Latin American residents in 2021, a lower percentage than in 2016, when it was 63.2%.

In contrast, European residents in the Basque Country accounted for 23.9%. Of particular note in this group was Romania, making up 43.7% of the total number of European nationals, followed by Portugal, with 14.9% of Europeans in the Basque Country. In this group, both sexes had a similar presence, the percentage of men being slightly higher (52.3%).

African countries accounted for 27% of foreigners in the Basque Country, with more than half coming from Morocco (53.4%). Regarding sex, there was a predominance of men, with 61.2% of the total.

In last place were nationals from Asia and Oceania, representing 8.4% of foreign residents. Notably, almost the only countries of origin from this region were China and Pakistan, which accounted for 75.3% of the group.

Focusing on the provinces, in Álava, Africans represented the greatest proportion of foreign residents (39.8%), whereas in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, those of Latin American nationality were the majority group (45% and 39.2%, respectively).

The foreign population living in the Basque Country was younger than the Spanish population

The average age of foreign nationals in the Basque Country was 32.9, a significantly lower figure than that of Spanish residents, which was 46.5, with the average age of the Basque population being 45.3. In 2016, the average age for the total Basque population was 44.4, while it stood at 32.2 for foreign residents and 45.4 for the remainder of the population.

Meanwhile, if instead of looking at nationality we take into account place of birth, we can also see significant differences in the average age, depending on whether the place of birth was in the Basque Country, the rest of Spain or abroad. The oldest population by far, with an average age of 64.8, was that resident in the Basque Country born in the rest of Spain. It was followed by the population born in the Basque Country, with an average age of 41.8 and, lastly, people born abroad, with an average of 37.7.

The number of people born abroad exceeded 246,000

On 1 January 2021, the number of people born abroad was 246,718 and accounted for 11.2% of the total population. This represents an increase of two percentage points over the last five years (9.1% in 2016).

Source: Eustat. Population and housing census

The three 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 14.4%; in Bilbao was at 13.7% and in San Sebastián it reached 12.3% of the total population.

The countries that provided the highest number of inhabitants to the Basque Country were, in order, Morocco (11.4%), Colombia (10.9%), Romania (6.4%) and Nicaragua (6.1%). Of these, 52.6% were women and 47.4% men.

82,000 foreign-born residents had Spanish nationality

On 1 January 2021, 82,040 foreign-born residents in the Basque Country had acquired Spanish nationality or already had it due to family or other reasons. Of this number, 67.1% came from Latin America, with three countries accounting for almost 50%: Colombia (23.9%), Bolivia (12.4%) and Ecuador (12.3%).

Next were those born in other European countries, representing 15.5%, of whom almost a third were born in France, 14.6% in Portugal and 11.4% in Germany.

13.6% of people who acquired Spanish nationality came from African countries and, of those, more than half were born in Morocco (54.2%), followed by those born in Algeria, with 14.5%.

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