Five of the six Spanish cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants lost population between 2020 and 2022. In proportional terms, Barcelona is the municipality that lost the most population in this period (-1.68%), while Malaga is the only large city that registered a greater number of inhabitants on January 1 of last year than it had before before the state of alarm for the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March 2020 (+0.11%). This is reflected in the figures from the municipal register published annually by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Madrid was the second major city that lost the most inhabitants in the two worst years of the pandemic in proportional terms (-1.62%), but with a difference of just 0.06 percentage points compared to the Catalan capital. In absolute terms, the Spanish capital was the first municipality with more than half a million inhabitants that lost the most population: it started 2022 with 54,000 fewer registered residents than in 2020, compared to the 28,000 registered that Barcelona lost in the same period. The increase in the population of Malaga translated into about 600 more inhabitants.
What is behind this general decrease? “During the pandemic there was a certain urban exodus to suburban and rural spaces close to the city, while the migratory flows of entry from abroad sankwhich have been the main demographic drivers of growth in cities in the last decade& rdquor;, explains Joaquin Recanoprofessor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and researcher at the Center d’Estudis Demogràfics.
In addition, Recaño points out that, in the specific case of Barcelona, the fact that the city “has long suffered from a long-term decentralization process in which the Spanish population loses and the foreign population gains& rdquor ;. One of the factors, he explains, is the high cost of housing and the fact that the Spanish population tends to look to buy a house and, therefore, may leave the city to get it, while “foreign working-class immigration it is inclined to rent due to its worse economic conditions& rdquor ;.
Recovery after the pandemic
However, after two consecutive years losing population, Barcelona broke that trend at the beginning of 2022an evolution that will have to be confirmed when the official figures of the municipal register of 2023 are published. This is indicated by the provisional reading of the register carried out by the Municipal Data Office published by the city council of the Catalan capital in February 2023.
Barcelona lost 14,200 inhabitants in the first month after the declaration of the state of alarm, moment from which a downward trend began that lasted until the summer of 2020. After experiencing a population rebound until March 2021, the Catalan capital hit rock bottom just one year later: in March 2022 it registered 1,627,500 inhabitants, the lowest figure since the restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic began. However, the latest data indicates that Barcelona has recovered its population since then. In October 2022, the city had 1,656,700 registered residents, the highest number in 18 monthsbut still below pre-pandemic levels.
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“The rural renaissance ended at the end of 2021, the review of the Barcelona census indicates that part of the census that meant leaving Barcelona can be called as tactical registrations aimed at the second homes of the Barcelona population, with greater purchasing power and teleworking capacity,” Recaño details. The researcher adds that “Once the pandemic was normalized, things followed their natural course and a part of the Barcelona emigration returned, without neglecting the incipient and growing recovery of foreign immigration& rdquor;which would explain this rise.
Differences by districts
All the districts of Barcelona lost population between 2020 and 2022, but there are also differences within the Catalan capital. Ciutat Vella (-2.44%), Sants-Montjuïc (-2.19%) and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi (-1.97%) were the three districts that lost the most inhabitants in proportional terms, while Sant Martí (- 0.94%) was the one with the least pronounced drop. For his part, l’Eixample was the district that lost the most population in absolute terms: almost 4,300 fewer registered residents. On the contrary, Les Corts was the one that lost the least population in absolute numbers, with approximately 1,600.