Population slumps in crisis stricken Spain

Published on 17 January 2012 at 13:34

“Spain is no longer a land of welcome”, writes El Mundo. According to the Madrid daily:

The migration bubble that grew during the last decade of [economic] splendour has suddenly burst, becoming a wave that has triggered a massive exodus of some half a million citizens.

According to a report released on 16 January by the National Statistics Institute (INE), net migration is negative (-50,090) for the first time in ten years, with 62,611 nationals and 445,130 non-nationals leaving in 2011. The main destinations for migrants are Morocco, Ecuador and Bolivia, followed by Brazil, France, Argentina, Germany, the United Kingdom and China.

The conservative daily blames part of Spain’s population decline to a declining birthrate, at 1.4 children per woman -

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2011 was also the year that for the first time saw the average age for having a first child go over the barrier of 31.

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