EUSKAL ESTATISTIKA ERAKUNDEA BASQUE STATISTICS INSTITUTE Press release 11/12/2018

MUNICIPAL INHABITANTS STATISTICS, 1 JANUARY 2018

Latin American nationals are the most numerous amongst foreign residents of the Basque Country

The number of people with foreign nationality exceeded 150,000

Foreign residents of the Basque Country amounted to 152,187 people, 7% of the total population on 01 January 2018, according to data prepared by EUSTAT. The percentage varied slightly between provinces: Álava had the highest proportion (8.7%), followed by (7.2%) and finally, Bizkaia (6.4%).

Regarding nationality, Latin Americans made up 35% of foreign residents, whilst in they hardly reached 24%. The countries with the greatest representation in this group were Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia and Paraguay, making up 18.2% of the total number of foreign residents, and 51.8% of the Latin American residents. Regarding sex, 63% of foreign residents of Latin American nationality were women.

In contrast, European residents in the Basque Country made up 26.9% compared to 48% in Spain. Romania stood out in this group, accounting for 12.2% of foreign nationals and 45.2% of Europeans, 15 percentage points higher than in Spain. In second place, albeit at some distance from Romania, was Portugal, making up 15.2% of European residents of the Basque Country. There were almost the same number of men as women in this group, with no significant differences.

Graph 1. Foreigners by the continent of their nationality (%)

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% Spain Basque Country Araba/Álava Bizkaia Gipuzkoa

Europe Africa America Asia and Oceania

Source: Eustat. Municipal statistics on inhabitants. 1 January 2016

African countries accounted for 28.7% of foreign residents in the Basque Country compared to 20.3% in Spain, with half coming from Morocco (50.3%). This was

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EUSKAL ESTATISTIKA ERAKUNDEA BASQUE STATISTICS INSTITUTE EMH 2018 followed by Algeria, Nigeria and Senegal, with 13.3%, 10.4% and 10.2% respectively. These four nationalities accounted for 84.2% of those with African nationality. Regarding sex, 60% were men, the opposite to the situation amongst those from Latin American countries.

In last place were nationals from Asia and Oceania, accounting for 9.3% of foreign residents. Notably, almost the only countries of origin from this region were China and Pakistan, which accounted for 78.6% of the group.

Africans in Álava, Latin Americans in Bizkaia and Europeans in Gipuzkoa

In Álava, Africans accounted for the greatest proportion (38%), whilst those of Latin American nationality, almost a quarter of them Colombians, did not reach 26%. Romanians accounted for 29% of Europeans and Moroccans almost half of Africans (48.1%), followed by Algerians and Nigerians. Pakistanis reached 56.8% of Asian residents.

In Bizkaia, Latin American nationals were the majority group (38%), with those from Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia and Nicaragua standing out among them, accounting for almost 60%. Romanians were the majority group among Europeans (60%), as was the case for Moroccans among Africans (46.2%), and the Chinese (55%) and the Pakistanis (21%) among Asians.

In Gipuzkoa, there was a certain balance between Europeans and Latin Americans, with the number of residents from Honduras standing out, with almost 68% of residents of this nationality in the Basque Country as a whole located in this province. Romanians had a relatively smaller presence compared to in other provinces. Africans here were in their smallest proportion in the Basque Country, most of them Moroccans (58.5%), followed by Algerians and Senegalese. Amongst Asians, Pakistanis accounted for a proportion smaller than the average.

The number of people born abroad exceeded 200,000

On 1 January 2018, the number of people born abroad residing in the Basque Country was 207,743 and accounted for 9.5% of the total population. This meant that around 60,000 people from this group acquired Spanish nationality or had it already due to family or other reasons.

The proportion for Spain was 13.3%. Therefore, in this respect, the Basque Country was level with Castilla y León, Galicia, Cantabria and Andalusia where the proportion of the population born abroad did not exceed 10%.

Of the 61 municipalities that had a proportion of people born abroad greater than that of the Basque Country as a whole, 19 were in Álava and, of those, 18 exceeded 10%, the majority being from the region of Rioja Alavesa. Despite this, the four municipalities with the highest percentages are scattered: Izurtza, which exceeded 18%, Navaridas (17.7%), Berriatua (17.7%), Baños de Ebro (16%) and (15.9%).

On the other hand, there were five municipalities with barely any resident population born abroad: three were in Gipuzkoa (, and ) and two in Álava (Lagrán and Harana/Valle de Arana). These are municipalities with small populations, as Aduna, the largest, only has 480 inhabitants and a proportion of the resident population born abroad of 2%.

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EUSKAL ESTATISTIKA ERAKUNDEA BASQUE STATISTICS INSTITUTE EMH 2018

The three provincial capitals had percentages of the population born abroad higher than that of the Basque Country as a whole, with the highest proportion being in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where it stood at 12.7%; in Bilbao it stood at 11.3% and in San Sebastián it reached 10.6% of the total population.

For further information: Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: [email protected] Tel: 945 01 75 62

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