Catalonia loses inhabitants for the first time since the Spanish Civil War

Barcelona (ACN).- Catalonia’s population decreased in 2011 for the first time since the Spanish Civil War. According to the Catalan Statistical Institute (Idescat) by the December 31^st of 2011 there were 7,432,830 habitants in Catalonia, 1,802 less than the year before. There had not been a population decrease since the five year period between 1936 and 1940, during the Spanish Civil War. The Province of Lleida, in Western Catalonia, and that of Girona, in the North East registered an increase of inhabitants, with 841 and 99 more people respectively. However they cannot offset the large population decline in the Barcelona Province, which concentrates around two thirds of Catalonia’s population, and Tarragona, in the South-East. They lost 2,290 and 452 inhabitant respectively.

Since 2001, Catalonia has gained more than a million inhabitants, but last year there was a population loss for the first time in 75 years. According to these figures, in 2011 there has been a natural growth of 2.9% but the migratory growth has been -3.2%, due to the economic slowdown.

According to the Idescat figures, there are also 110,000 more women (3,771,596) than men (3,661,324). In comparison to 2010, the number of men has decreased almost 15,000 while the number of women has increased in 13,181 individuals.