The two Spanish metropolises each welcome around 40,000 qualified foreigners each year. But this number does not have the same meaning when we know that Barcelona has half as many inhabitants as Madrid.
Cover photo: Bérenger Cyne/Equinox
They are often compared, and for good reason. Regarding migration, it is true that Madrid and Barcelona attract similar populations: foreigners from all over the world with higher education. But when in Madrid 40,000 immigrants blend into the mass of 3 million Madrilenians, they stand out more in the county’s city, where only 1.6 million people live.
According to a study by the Center for Demographic Studies which analyzed migratory populations in 2022, Madrid remains the champion of internal migrations (30,000 people come from Spanish provinces compared to 10,000 in Barcelona), but not that of external migrations. In fact, if we analyze the figures in percentage terms, we notice that immigration from abroad by municipality in 2022 was 96,895 in the case of Barcelona, which represents 5.85% compared to to the city’s population, and in Madrid the figure is 150,550, which represents approximately 4.51% of the city’s population.
Why Barcelona?
But what motivates qualified workers to come and settle here? Antonio López-Gay, director of the Center for Demographic Studies, does not have the answer, he confides to our colleagues at La Vanguardia:
“I don’t know the causes. There are people from the North and the South who settle here. In other countries there are policies to attract them, but not here, and people come anyway. »
Even without politics, if you search a little, you can still find reasons to settle in Barcelona, and often the same ones: quality of life, pleasant weather and international atmosphere are the arguments most often cited. And if Madrid shares these qualifiers, it does not have the proximity of the sea, which surely tips the scales towards the count’s city.
Qualified foreigners are not just good news for Barcelona
But these massive immigrations have consequences for the local population. Due to the arrival of these workers, whose standard of living is often higher than that of Barcelona residents, rent prices increase and the population changes. Still according to the study, these foreign workers often telework and generally live on the diagonal that goes from Vila Olímpica to Sarrià.
Due to this central geographical position, they intensely occupy public space. And if some immigrants make the effort to adapt to the language and customs, others live here in English and without mixing with the local population, which significantly disrupts the socio-cultural landscape of Barcelona.
