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Immigrations and emigrations. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

External migrations. Immigrations. On the continent of origin. Counties, areas and provinces Catalonia
Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa America Asia Oceania Not stated Total
2012 17,446 5,066 7,212 21,657 10,387 209 30,648 92,625
2011 22,289 5,725 9,996 28,008 13,973 218 37,937 118,146
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.
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.
External migrations. Emigrations. On the continent of destination. Counties, areas and provinces Catalonia
Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa America Asia Oceania Not stated Expiry Total
2012 7,635 1,502 1,363 8,592 1,110 149 43,616 34,809 98,776
2011 7,345 1,457 1,455 6,952 1,313 104 44,517 37,446 100,589
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.
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: September 18, 2014.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

External emigration
Change of residence when the municipality of destination is abroad and the municipality of origin is any of the municipalities of Catalonia. External immigration includes people leaving to abroad both of Spanish and foreign nationality.
External migration
Change of residence when the municipality of origin is abroad and the destination is any of the municipalities of Catalonia. External immigration includes the arrival of people coming from abroad both of Spanish and foreign nationality.
International migration
Change of residence between a municipality in Catalonia and abroad.

Methodological aspects

Residential Variation Statistics (RVS) are compiled by the INE from information regarding registrations and delistings due to changes of residence registered in the Municipal Registers, with variation dates from the reference year.

Migratory movement refers to the displacement of an individual due to a change in residence, as well as the characteristics of this migration. The information contained comprises only inter-municipal changes and, as such, changes in residence within the same municipality are excluded.

Yearly residential variation statistics do not refer to the number of people changing residence, but rather to the number of changes made, as a citizen may change residence from one municipality to another more than once a year.

Exterior immigration data is compiled exclusively from municipal registrations of people who have arrived from abroad. Exterior immigration data for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 have not been published due to a lack of exhaustive data (these population flows tended to be incorporated directly into the Continuous Municipal Register as entries lacking previous registrations). Exterior immigration flow is published again from 2004 onwards as the total number of movements was reasonably exhaustive, even though there is an elevated number of cases where the destination country information is missing.

The external emigration series begins in 2005, the year in which the data, once analysed, is more consistent, even though there is still a large number of cases missing the destination country information.

From 2006 onwards, delistings from the Municipal Register due to expiry are included. These delistings are included as a result of the legislative change to the 7/1985 Organic Law, which regulates Local Ordinances, introduced in the 14/2003 Law on Foreign Nationals, which states that foreigners from outside the European Union must renew their registration on the Municipal Register every two years. If they do not renew, city councils must declare their registration as expired.

You can get more information about these statistics in the methodology.