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Immigrations and emigrations. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

External migrations. Immigrations. On the continent of origin. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces Catalonia
Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa America Asia Oceania Not stated Total
2021 21,680 11,756 17,401 53,929 13,208 376 31,315 149,665
2020 17,499 9,824 14,562 41,053 9,897 385 25,540 118,760
2019 30,002 9,672 26,585 85,251 20,289 589 31,455 203,843
2018 29,029 9,055 23,350 68,128 17,811 517 29,326 177,216
2017 29,004 8,382 14,282 58,126 14,461 432 27,191 151,878
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.
External migrations. Emigrations. On the continent of destination. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces Catalonia
Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa America Asia Oceania Not stated Expiry Total
2021 7,306 4,913 606 4,787 1,154 264 53,684 38,617 111,331
2020 6,297 3,254 572 3,770 985 191 32,112 15,055 62,236
2019 10,295 1,932 995 6,715 1,349 301 46,942 18,962 87,491
2018 10,177 1,667 1,053 6,543 1,228 223 37,367 19,745 78,003
2017 10,973 1,832 1,026 7,620 1,298 350 52,011 19,472 94,582
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.

Last update: September 30, 2022.

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.