Spain’s Population Declines for First Time in 5 Years Amid Low Immigration, High Death Rate

The Spanish population has decreased for the first time in five years, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed on Thursday, stating that this situation is due to the high number of deaths compared to births (227,920 against 157,184) and the almost zero migration balance (a little over 200,000 departures from Spain against the same number of arrivals of foreigners) recorded this year. The Institute announces a population decline of 0.06%, pending the final data, reports El Pais.

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The population decline was much more felt due to the drop in the influx of foreigners in the first half of 2021, including Romanians (-18,579), Moroccans (-8,113) and Ecuadorians (-4,248). On the other hand, the Italian, British and French communities increased by 6,742, 6,302 and 2,499 people respectively. Despite the fact that part of the foreign population has obtained Spanish nationality, the country’s population has significantly decreased.

In detail, 202,004 people left Spain, an increase of 54.9% compared to the first half of 2020, while 201,638 foreigners settled in the country, an increase of 18% compared to the same period last year. By city, the population increased in Murcia (0.2%), the Canary Islands (0.09%), the Valencian Community (0.08%) and Cantabria (0.01%). In all the others, the number of inhabitants decreased, mainly in Aragon (-1.33%), Ceuta (-0.87%) and Melilla (-0.63%).