Number of Catalans residing abroad increases by 2.9% in 2022

367,367 Catalans resided abroad in 2022, surpassing by 2.9% the 357,011 that did in 2021, according to data released by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat) on Thursday.

The vast majority of these Catalans used to live in Barcelonès county (50.6%) before, followed by Vallès Occidental (7%) and Baix Llobregat (5.4%) counties.

Of these 367,367 residents abroad, 52.2% of them are registered in consulate offices based in Europe, while 42.7% were in the Americas.

France, with 53,119 residents, continues to be the main destination Catalans choose as their new home. In fact, the neighboring country is the first option for residents of the vast majority of Catalan counties, including Aran (61.5%), Cerdanya (49.8%), and Alt Empordà (46.9%).

The European country is followed by the United Kingdom, with 32,866 residents; Argentina, with 32,090, Germany, with 31,043, and the United States, with 25,359.

Meanwhile, there are 16 Catalans who registered in the consulates of Sierra Leone, Sudan, Nepal, and Azerbaijan during 2022, four per country.

The majority of residents abroad are children aged 10 to 14, accounting for 8.25% of the overall Catalan population residing overseas, a total of 30,323 (15,909 boys and 14,414 girls). Meanwhile, the least adventurous are those aged between 80 and 84, with 3,009 men and 3,440 women (6,449) living abroad, representing 1.76%.