Longstanding internal migration patterns in Spain are reversing, evidence of geographical shifts in economic dynamism in the country.
The trend shows in the latest figures from Spain’s Tax Agency (AEAT) on tax residency, El Debate reports. In 2023, 53.7% more workers moved from one autonomous community in Spain to another compared to the previous year. In fact the number—229,084 workers—hit a record high as it had never before exceeded 150,000 people annually.
AEAT ascribed the substantial rise in moves to the increase in telecommuting, which allows some workers more freedom to decide where to live.
The most notable trend was the flow of workers into the Andalusia region and out of Catalonia. Anadalusia, among the geographically largest autonomous communities of Spain has also historically been one of the poorest, while Catalonia has historically been one of the most important commercial and industrial centers of the country. Since the nineteenth century, one of the general flows of internal migration has largely been Andalusians going to seek their fortune in Catalonia. In 2023, however, the trend completely reversed. For every one Adalusian worker who moved to Catalonia, three workers from Catalonia moved to Andalusia.
El Debate attributes the trend to the improving economy of Andalusia in recent years, following the downfall of the socialist party, which had governed the region with an absolute majority for some forty years. It was kicked out of the regional government by voters in 2019. Since then, the region has been governed by either a right-leaning coalition or the Partido Popular.
Several factors may be driving workers from Catalonia. Social unrest and political uncertainty, particularly due to the independence movement, has driven companies and foreign investors out of the capital in particular. Problems common to all big cities in Spain—rising crime rates and housing costs—have also been particularly acute in Barcelona.
Gaining 56,276 new workers, Madrid more than doubled the number that Catalonia attracted, with the region’s growth attributed to its leadership under governed by the PP’s political figurehead Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
