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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
2010 22,319 5,140 11,100 27,033 17,564 187 41,151 124,494
2009 22,652 5,203 16,076 31,037 13,983 183 36,118 125,252
2008 31,392 7,386 29,080 57,791 21,508 174 29,282 176,613
2007 49,938 9,464 29,954 69,826 18,333 179 24,039 201,733
2006 21,759 27,114 23,996 69,234 13,535 137 30,795 186,570
2005 15,527 20,604 25,608 44,876 13,500 97 42,724 162,936
2004 9,080 17,747 21,844 29,853 7,406 63 68,138 154,131
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.
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
2010 6,179 1,129 1,412 5,500 931 89 54,244 44,257 113,741
2009 5,945 1,059 1,458 5,900 1,057 70 46,327 49,611 111,427
2008 5,890 1,082 1,215 5,458 1,031 95 29,387 37,168 81,326
2007 4,704 933 961 4,236 847 63 19,200 36,270 67,214
2006 3,123 1,503 786 3,554 712 57 25,230 16,508 51,473
2005 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
2004 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Residential Variation Statistics.

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.