Catalonia has exceeded eight million inhabitants, according to the estimates made public yesterday by the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat). Specifically, on November 1, it is estimated that the figure has reached 8,005,784 people, of which 4,065,088 are women and 3,940,696 men. The increase of 2.7% compared to the last published data (7,792,611) responds to the weight of immigration, since natural growth gave a negative balance of 13,026 people on January 1 (69,342 deaths for 56,316 births).
Between 1987 and 2023 Catalonia has gone from six to eight million, showing remarkable changes in the demographic structure. From the famous campaign undertaken by the Generalitat in the 1980s with the slogan "We are 6 million" and until today, society has aged due to the increase in life expectancy, which stands at 83.6 years compared to 77.2 in 1987, and has become much more diverse. From 1.1% of foreign citizens it has gone to 16.3% today. And another very relevant fact, later motherhood has been consolidated: the average age for having the first child is 31.6 years, five more than in 1987. During this period the employment rate of women women has gone from 26.5% to 50.9%.
"When we reached six million it was due to positive natural growth, we had more births than deaths; now it's because of immigration, since the population is aging, deaths are increasing and births are falling for two reasons, there are fewer women of childbearing age and fewer children are being born", explains Albert Esteve, sociologist of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and director of the Center for Demographic Studies (CED).
Esteve believes that from 2030 there could be a certain increase in births, since women who were born around 2000 will reach the age at which they usually have their first child, since at that time it was registered an increase in births.
73% of the Catalan population lives in the province of Barcelona; 11%, in Tarragona; 10%, in Girona, and 6%, in Lleida.
The report made public yesterday by Idescat emphasizes that since 1900 Catalonia has doubled its inhabitants twice in periods of six decades and has gone from two to four million and from four to eight. Currently, the Catalan population represents 16% of Spain as a whole and 1.8% of the European population.
Since 2018, every year there have been more deaths than births in Catalonia and this trend is expected to continue. For this reason, the increases will be more moderate than in the past and will be determined by the evolution of migratory movements.
Albert Esteve recalls that after the baby boom between 1958 and the mid-seventies, which took place later than in other European countries and in the United States, the birth rate fell until entering the 21st century and the migration was negative. It was from 2000 when there was a wave of migration from abroad and in a decade the inhabitants increased by more than a million.
As Idescat points out, from 2010 the expansion stopped due to the return of immigrants to their countries of origin, coinciding with the ravages of the severe economic crisis, and due to the decline in the birth rate. From 2017, the population grew again in Catalonia, with the exception of the slight setback (-0.79%) recorded due to the impact of the covid pandemic.
The average age at which women have their first child - adds the director of the CED - is one of the highest in Europe; he is approaching 32 years old. "Motherhood is delayed for various reasons, due to the desire to self-realize and to do other things first, because emancipation, leaving the parents' home, takes place later, for work, economic reasons... ”, says Esteve.
Immigration rejuvenates society – now 19.3% of Catalans are over 65 – and increases the fertile population. "But - warns Esteve - growth brings challenges, a logistical challenge, infrastructure, housing, transport..., and also accommodation needs to be adapted to prevent the creation of two worlds".
Foreigners represent 16.3% of the total, a percentage that exceeds 21% if those born in another country are taken into account. By nationality, Moroccans lead the ranking and represent 18.50%, followed by Romanians (6.80%), Italians (6.04%), Chinese (4.97%), Pakistanis (4.39%), Colombians (4.31%), Hondurans (4.10%), French (3%), Venezuelans (2.59%) and Peruvians (2.41%).
