Madrid City Council councilor Enma López, PSOE, gave an alarming number to the Government team during the last Employment Commission, saying, in Yolanda Díaz’s purest tone and repeated, “I’ll give you a bit of information.” moon: “25 thousand 800 young people aged 25-34 working a year ago disappeared and now you don’t know where they are. They had to leave because this Madrid does not create opportunities“El Periódico de España of the Princess Ibérica group requested from the Almeida City Council the statistics of the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the last quarter of 2022 to which the socialist mayor referred. López contributed, but not for the better, because young Spaniards difficulties in accessing living place related to rent at an affordable price.
According to the document for that quarter, at the end of last year Madrid’s active population aged 25-34 was 357,400 people. However, in the same period of 2021, the number of these young people was 375,100, or 17,700 more.
The total number in the pre-pandemic quarter, which is one of the causes of this loss of citizens, is even higher, at 390,000, and in the quarter of the election that resulted in a change of Government in the City Council. Madrid, which was second in 2019, had 372,100 young people, Almost 4% less than in 2020, as seen in the graph below. Each of the graphics in this report presents a different scale, making it easier to observe the population development in each province at first glance.
The City Council did not respond to this newspaper’s request to evaluate these figures, which showed that the capital had lost a total of 32,600 people aged 25 to 34 from 2020 to 2022. And it does so despite the fact that, according to data from the INE municipal register, Madrid had 14,000 more inhabitants in 2021 than in 2018 – measured last year.
But this phenomenon of abandoning young people is not unique to Madrid. numerals Barcelona even more worrying. At the start of Ada Colau’s second legislature, 220,700 young people of the same age group were living in Barcelona in the second quarter of 2019. The population aged 24-35 before Covid dropped to 204 thousand 200. Then the freefall continued in the last quarter of 2021 and 2022: 201,200 and 171,300 citizens, respectively.
One Migration of 49,400 young workers between 2019 and last year and 32,900 young workers between the pandemic and 2022, 16.11% less. The City Council considers what has been observed is a “stability” after the city lost population between 2015 and 2020. On the other hand, urban sociologist José Ariza de la Cruz assesses that “Barcelona has a very big problem”. And according to the census, the population of the city remains constant. It lost more than 500 residents between 2018 and 2021.
While urban demographer Toni López-Gay points out that this decline in youth population is likely due to a population pyramid problem, “the generations born around 1995 who fall into your study group are less abundant than those in 1985,” while the population in Barcelona is in the 35-month period that followed. It falls in the 39 age group. From the second quarter of 2019 to the last quarter of 2022, it increases from 128.00 to 104.500.
Where do they end?
Immigrants’ destinations are diverse. As it makes sense, many continue or have found face-to-face employment in these capitals, so they are leaving the city but not entirely. They built their dwellings on the urban ‘streets’ of these capitals, that is, in suburban towns where rents were cheaper.
The paradox is that, again according to the census, like the municipalities of Madrid Getafe, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcón or Leganés, all in the ‘red belt’, keeping or losing some of the population but failing to win. Towns like Boadilla del Monte, Majadahonda or Pozuelo de Alarcón, all on Madrid’s west side, and Rivas Vaciamadrid in the southeast are increasing population compared to 2018, but not dramatically. For its part, something similar is happening around Barcelona: Badalona, Castelldefels, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sabadell or Terrassa have gained between 300 and 4,000 in the last four years, which means far fewer than the winners have left the capital.
The Barcelona City Council acknowledges that “clearly housing prices always seem to be one of the determining factors” when young people are forced to leave the city, but it should also be noted that “it is the age group that brings together people who have finished their education going to study or to do their first job abroad.” “, therefore this variable “is difficult to measure. According to Idealista reports, the rental price in Barcelona has increased by more than 20% as of February 2023 compared to the same month of the previous year, much higher compared to neighboring or nearby towns such as Castelldefels (17.6%), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (13.1%), Badalona (10.7%), Sabadell (5.9%) one rate or Terrassa (5.3%).
It also grew by 10.9% in Madrid in the same period. Rents became more expensive in cities located in the urban ‘point’ of the capital. Getafe stands out with an 11.9% increase, one percentage point above equity. “The most important keys [para evitar la escalada de precios] has stop renting tourist apartments and check them out, because this puts pressure on those looking for apartments: this offer is for the usual reference rent and increases the price”, explains José Ariza de la Cruz.
This urban sociologist public housing construction roadcurrently little exploited in both Madrid and Barcelona. “Ciudad Condal has made progress in this regard, but has less usable land than Madrid,” he thinks.
The pandemic has changed the paradigm of every individual’s claims to housing. Many citizens, especially young workers, took advantage of the days before the state of alarm and traveled to the provinces they came to to spend the quarantine there. While some have ended up in other state capitals, others chose places away from pollution and crowds. As a matter of fact, according to the in-house variation statistics of 392,982 people who moved from a state capital in 2021, also prepared by INE, Quarter of more than 90,000 chose a municipality with less than 10,000 inhabitants relocation, in part through remote work opportunities.
“For those who prefer a lifestyle that is more connected to the rural environment, remote work allows for this. This is a very special type of population that can afford remote work, and there will be people going to municipalities with less than 10,000 residents,” says Ariza de la Cruz. But this sociologist says that this interest in returning to the city appears to be only a temporary trend: “The return to rural areas has been very strong in 2020 and 2021, due to remote work that has stagnated somewhat since the pandemic. In 2022, cities will be free of agglomeration economy: Employment is emerging in cities that “need a specific population and have a job ecosystem” that walkers will have to return to.
Another of the main destinations they moved to was other cities, large and small. According to the same INE housing variation statistics, The second choice of those leaving a state capital was other state capitals.. Of these, 21% chose Bilbao, Valencia or Valladolid, among others, as their place of residence. The municipalities of these towns provided data showing that the populations of these three cities have increased since the pandemic.
Deputy Mayor’s Office ValenciaSandra Gómez shared figures for Valencia’s population aged 25 to 29, which hosted 35,000 citizens in this age group in the second quarter of 2019, and 2021 closed last year, despite declines in the first quarter of 2020 and the fourth 37,900 young people, 14% more.
According to figures from the Basque Statistical Institute EUSTAT, Bilbao Between 2021 and 2022, it gained some active population aged 25 to 34: it went from 32,700 to 32,800. Additionally, according to the latest data published by INE, statistics on housing disparities among the population aged 25 to 34 in the Biscayan capital show that 373 out of a total of 4,304 discharged persons in 2021 showed a positive balance.
City Council on its behalf valladolidIt provided figures for the total population, without data on the active population. In this case, despite the negative balance of the 25-34 age group and also the pandemic years, 2022 closed with 76 more young people compared to 2019. Although population increases in these cities have not been as dramatic as the losses. The development of Barcelona and Madrid is positive.
Why are they leaving?
José Antonio, 29, from Valladolid, returned from Madrid to his town, Medina del Campo, before being imprisoned. His company allowed him to work remotely from outside the capital, and he returned home. Finally, instead of returning to Madrid, where he continued to pay rent for a while, he stayed in his birthplace a few months ago and moved to Valladolid a few months ago, where he now shares an apartment with a friend.
“The biggest difference is the difference between rent and living prices: No matter how much free time Madrid has, it can’t make up for the cost of living it brings, and it’s impossible to exhaust all it has to offer.“, says José Antonio. Madrid “couldn’t offer me the same as before” during the coronavirus crisis. The leisure break was crucial for him to continue at home, and there he realized that Valladolid could offer him a sporting and cultural offer that fits. leisure time in provincial capitals can be saved. The cost of living in Madrid doesn’t cover the leisure expenses you can afford,” he explains.
According to Idealista, the average rental price for a 60 square meter apartment in Barcelona is 1,164 euros, compared to 996 euros in Madrid. This varies in state capitals. For example, in Valladolid, Almost three times less than the Catalan capital. Diana, 26, who returned to Logroño after feeling “exiled” from her city for being a trans girl, justifies that “the reason for leaving Madrid was a salary that did not correspond to the cost of living.” Currently in a lesbian relationship.
Both cities are attracting more and more immigrants with their purchasing power. “Marketing the Community of Madrid with the controversial video or Ayuso’s intention to lower personal income tax for foreign investment, attract investment from major Latin American and American fortunes. Even though people from the rest of Spain continue to come to Madrid to look for work, they are buying expensive buildings and apartments that make the price of housing more expensive,” says Ariza de la Cruz. Salamanca is one of Madrid and Barcelona’s rivals because of the international perspective they are currently exploiting. He sums up that they “become Paris or Tokyo”.
Source: Informacion
James Sean is a writer for “Social Bites”. He covers a wide range of topics, bringing the latest news and developments to his readers. With a keen sense of what’s important and a passion for writing, James delivers unique and insightful articles that keep his readers informed and engaged.