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Population. By nationality. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

Registered population 1 of January. By nationality. Counties, areas and provinces Catalonia
Spanish Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa North and Central America South Amaerica Asia and Oceania Total
2014 6,429,689 289,723 60,415 306,825 70,233 221,044 140,974 7,518,903
2013 6,395,178 306,466 60,223 318,766 73,316 257,045 142,656 7,553,650
2012 6,384,129 309,699 57,494 322,673 71,170 282,160 143,583 7,570,908
2011 6,353,766 304,597 55,118 319,385 66,746 305,097 134,909 7,539,618
Units: Persons.
Source: Idescat. Municipal population register.
Note: Law 23/2010, of July 22, on the creation of the area of Penedès, divides Catalonia into eight territorial planning areas. This change implies that the data for the Metropolitan Area, Central Counties and Camp de Tarragona are not directly comparable with previous years.

Last update: February 19, 2015.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Population
All inhabitants of a given place. Since 1996, when the continuous management system was established for the Municipal Population Register, in accordance with Royal Decree 2612/1996, of December 20, official population figures for municipalities have been obtained annually using data referred to January 1 of each year.
Neighbour
Person who habitually lives in a municipality, whether present or absent on the date of reference. Acquisition of the condition of neighbour is produced as soon as that person is recorded on the civil register (padró). Those who habitually live in a municipality but are away on the date of reference are still considered neighbours of the municipality they usually live in. The concept of a neighbour substitutes the concepts of a present resident and absent resident in a municipality in accordance with Royal Decree 2612/1996, of December 20, which modified the Regulation for the population and territorial demarcation of local entities on July 11, 1986. The figure of the person in transit has also been eliminated.

Methodological aspects

The basic on information population by nationality and place of birth, as well as the population of the municipalities, is obtained from the Municipal Population Register.

The Municipal population register is the administrative record containing the residents of a given municipality and it constitutes proof that they reside in the municipality and have their usual home there. Population figures from the revision of the Register on 1 January are declared official in each of the municipalities by the Government of Spain, by means of a Royal Decree. The exploitation of the municipal population register provides figures on the number of people registered in the population census in each municipality in Catalonia. The official figures are available by municipality and they are broken down according to sex, age, nationality and place of birth.