Register of Inhabitants Residing Abroad. 2024
The number of Catalans residing abroad was 386,486 people on 1 January 2024, which represents a year-over-year growth of 5.2% compared to a year ago.
All the counties and Aran registered an increase in the population residing abroad during 2023, except for La Segarra, where it decreased because the municipalities of Biosca and Torà were added to El Solsonès in mid-2023.
It should be noted that the variations in the results of this year in relation to those of 2023 for the counties of El Solsonès and La Segarra are affected by the change in county of Torà and Biosca, in the same way that those of Osona are affected by the creation of El Lluçanès.
By country of residence, France is the first country that Catalans choose to live abroad, and it is also the first destination for citizens of 34 counties and Aran. The United Kingdom is in second place, and it is the first destination for Catalans from El Barcelonès and El Moianès. The third country with the most Catalan residents is Argentina, which is the first destination for those from La Noguera, El Pallars Jussà and El Priorat. And Germany is the main destination for those coming from Osona and El Lluçanès.
More than half of the residents abroad have their last registration in El Barcelonès (195,653 people), followed by El Vallès Occidental (26,917) and El Baix Llobregat (20,997).
Regarding the last registered municipalities, 173,686 residents abroad are registered in the municipality of Barcelona. It is followed by L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (8,994), Terrassa (8,026), Badalona (7,746) and Sabadell (7,697).
By place of birth, 64.3% of those registered in consular offices were born abroad (248,735), of which 183,232 were born in the same country where they now reside and 65,503 in other countries. By county, the highest proportions are those of La Noguera (72.5%), El Pallars Jussà (72.4%) and El Barcelonès (71.2%). On the other hand, 31.9% were born in Catalonia (123,419 people). The highest proportions are those of La Cerdanya (49.7%), Osona (46.0%) and El Berguedà (45.5%). Finally, 3.6% were born in the rest of Spain (13,984 people).
In 2023, there were 32,675 new registrations in the consular registers, due to emigration abroad, birth, naturalization and omission. In relation to the previous year, there has been a 22.9% increase in new registrations, which has been transferred to all continents, although the most pronounced increases were in Asia (35.4%) and America (33.5%).