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COSTA CALIDA EDITION
Your English Newspaper
roundtownnews.com
Issue 59
13-19 DEC 2013
Murcia population growth by Keith Nicol POPULATION DATA made public by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this week show that Murcia showed a slight increase in their population numbers during the first half of 2013. According to the INE, the region’s population grew by 0.07% from 1,461,987 to 1,463,028 citizens, up 1,041 people. This rise is due to the combined effect of natural increase, the difference between births and deaths plus the migration-balance difference between those moving into or out of the region. With an insignificant increase of 0.07%, the region is one of only three Spanish communities, along with the Canaries and the Balearic Islands (plus Ceuta) that break this demographic dynamic of population decline, driven by the economic crisis. Nationally, the figures show that for the third consecutive semester, Spain’s population has dropped and according to provisional figures from INE, the Spanish population declined by 118,238 people during the first half of the year and now stands at 46,609,652 inhabitants. This phenomenon can be explained, according to experts, primarily due to a sharp decline Murcia is one in immigration, as foreign workers are no of only three longer attracted to looking for construction or communities farming employment. This small rise is prethat saw an ceded however, by a decline in population over increase in the last twelve months. In 2008 the region had population
a population of 1,411,623 citizens that, in early 2012, grew to 1,476,344 people. According to INE data, however, the regional census fell last year by more than 13,000 people. In Murcia, June’s foreign population reached, 229,912 people, up 0.6% from early 2013. In the first six months 1,587 foreign residents in the region left. The number of immigrants who have moved to the community has also been losing steam in the last five years. In 2008, 19,098 immigrants came to live in the region, while last year the figure dropped to just over 7,400. North of the border, the population of the Comunitat Valenciana dropped by 18,924 citizens from 4,987.017 to 4,968,093 while Spain’s third largest immigrant group behind the Romanians (746,604 citizens) and Moroccans (736,121) are the British, who account for 314,585 registered residents, down 1,777 during the first six months of the year from 316,362 on January 1st, 2013. The INE also said on Tuesday that nearly 260,000 people left Spain in the first half of 2013, while only 134,312 migrated to the country. Nearly 40,000 of those who emigrated were Spaniards, while the remaining were foreigners who returned to their home countries. Spain’s soaring unemployment rate has driven young professionals and lower-qualified workers to seek jobs in other European countries as well as in Latin America with the main target zones being Ecuador, France and the UK.