Spain expects 46% less Immigrants in 2010

 

Spain will receive about 460,000 fewer immigrants in 2010, a reduction of 46 percent from the 1 million people who came to the country from abroad in 2007, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said Thursday.

The INE's "Short-Term Projection of the Spanish Population 2010-2020" shows that Spain's population will grow just 2.7 percent in the next 10 years, an increase of 1.2 million residents compared with the hike of 5.9 million (14.8 percent) in the first decade of the 21st century.

On average, demographic growth will be 124,591 people per year, much below the 593,931 people the country added each year – on average – during the past decade.

If current demographic trends are maintained, Spain will have a little more than 47 million inhabitants in the year 2020.

Life expectancy in Spain will increase by 1.6 years on average, and the study says that over the past 10 years, Spain's population has grown by 14.8 percent.

According to INE calculations, which are based on current demographic trends remaining stable, the fall in immigration and the aging of the Spanish population will reduce the country's potential for population growth in all regions of Spain.

In fact, the population will actually decrease in five regions, as well as in the Basque Country and in Galicia.