Spain’s population decreased due to the departure of migrants

Ecuadorian migrants

Ecuadorian and Colombian Migrants are among the list of foreigners who left Spain in 2012, departure that resulted in the largest reduction of population since 1996.

In 2012, about 216,126 foreigners, mostly Ecuadorians (45,951) left this country, followed by the Romanians (28,568) and Colombians (24,984).

During 2012 the number of foreigners registered in Spain fell by 3.8%, meanwhile, the number of Spanish registered voters increased by 0.02%. The Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE for its Spanish acronym) published today the listing of persons registered in the different municipalities of Spain. On January 1, 2013 there were 47,059,533 people registered, 205,788 people less than a year earlier.

This decrease is a result of  the lack of jobs as a consequence of the severe economic crisis that has been affecting this country since 2008. Those belonging to the EU have been reduced to 90,639 (2,352,978 citizens), the non-EU citizens have reduced to  125 486 (3,167,155 citizens).

During a visit to Spain last week, Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa announced a plan of incentives and assistance for Ecuadorians who want to return home to start their own businesses.