SPAIN'S population has reduced by 90,000 in the last two years with more people dying or emigrating than being born and moving to the country.
Latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics show that the exodus is slowing down, with 0.06% of the nation's headcount having left or died in the first quarter of 2015, compared with 0.12% in the same period of 2014.
Foreign nationals in Spain are, on average, men aged between 25 and 39.
Last year saw 62,634 inhabitants leaving or dying, whilst this year so far, the headcount has dropped by 26,501.
A total of 164,606 people left the country for good between January 2014 and the second quarter of 2015, compared to 157,221 new immigrants, meaning a negative migration total.
As at the end of June this year, the population of Spain sat at 46,423,064, with the reduction of 26,501 between January and June inclusive remaining in keeping with the consistent fall in numbers seen since 2012.
Of all inhabitants, a total of 4,426,811 are foreign – having reduced in number by 0.6% because of 66,454 obtaining Spanish citizenship in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 1,042 on the previous year.
But if 'foreigners' are counted as 'anyone not born in Spain of Spanish parents', the reduction in non-Spaniards sits at 45,108 in the first six months of this year.
Also in that time, deaths exceeded births by 19,115, due to a falling birth rate rather than increasing death rate.
Spain's population has been declining for three consecutive years and the migration balance is now at its lowest ever, but the exodus has been considerably lower in the first two quarters this year than in the same period in 2013, which still holds the record after 141,895 more residents left than arrived.
An overall reduction in emigration from Spain of18.1% of the total population in six months, compared with the same period in 2014.
Of everyone who left the country between January and June 2015, a total of 50,844 were Spanish and, of these, 32,980 had been born in Spain, with the rest originally having been foreigners who obtained Spanish citizenship but then moved back to their country of birth, or to a third nation.
And of all those who moved to Spain to live, 23,078 were returning expats and 134,143 were foreign.
Concerning foreigners alone, this is the first time since 2009 that more immigrants than returners were recorded – the latter came to 113,762, meaning non-Spaniards who were not born in Spain have risen in number by 20,380 – a sure sign that expatriates are once again being attracted to the country and all it has to offer.
The highest national incoming group were Romanians, with 13,969 moving to Spain this year before the summer, followed by Moroccans who accounted for 12,125 and, for the first time ever, Italians, of whom 8,803 relocated to Spain in the first half of 2015.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com