The geography of internal migration areas in Spain (1988-2008): a spatial econometric approach

Xavier Franch, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Joaquin Recaño Valverde, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The study we present here aims to clarify the more contemporary evolution of the migratory areas in Spain during the last two decades, for which we will use spatial econometric techniques. We intend to offer a vision of the whole of Spain as a dynamic system where internal migrations create spaces that fluctuate, that expand and that contract depending on the relevant factors that are to be identified and will constitute the object of analysis in this work. Territorial units of analysis are the Spanish municipalities and the data come from the series of Estadística de Variaciones Residenciales (Municipality changes of residence). The data contain individual migratory annual flows and are elaborated by the National Institute of Statistics. Our analysis covers the period from 1988 to 2008. We present the results of an analysis of the migration rates by age using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA). The main objective is to study internal migration trends by type of migration (short, medium and large distance) and to identify significant spatial clusters. In addition, we use a classification of areas based on the Spanish Census of 1991 and 2001 in order to make the analysis more accurate. This classification synthesizes the results and provides a cartography which shows the evolution of the internal migration areas during two decades.