These are the richest municipalities in Catalonia

BarcelonaSant Cugat del Vallès is the Catalan municipality of over 20,000 inhabitants with the highest average net income per capita (€20,582) according to the list released this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, the city is placed third in the Spanish ranking, only behind the Madrid towns of Pozuelo de Alarcón (€28,326) and Boadilla del Monte (€21,795). Sant Cugat climbs one place in the INE ranking, as last year it was in fourth (€19,591) behind Pozuelo, Getxo and Boadilla. This year, Sant Quirze del Vallès has also made the list of the 50 Spanish municipalities with highest income per capita.

The INE ranking, which is limited to municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants, shows that 14 of the 50 municipalities with a highest average net income are in Catalonia. Even so, Madrid is by far the region with the richest municipalities: the two richest as well as 7 of the top 10 are in Madrid.

In addition, Madrid city, with €16,700 per inhabitant, is placed 16th, ahead of Barcelona, which with €16,386 occupies the 19th place. Thus, Pozuelo de Alarcón quadruples in net income per inhabitant the municipality where it is lower, Níjar (Almería), which has a median income of €7,307. Among the 50 Spanish municipalities with the lowest average income per inhabitant none are in Catalonia.

The INE also studies income per inhabitant of neighbourhoods in large cities. Pedralbes is the Barcelona neighbourhood with the highest income per inhabitant, at €33,501, and ranks sixth in the state, behind five neighbourhoods in Madrid: Viso, Recoletos, Piovera, Castellana and Nueva España. In Barcelona, after Pedralbes come Sant Gervasi - Galvany (€33,012), Les Tres Torres (€32,179), and Sant Gervasi - Bonanova (€27,709).

Related to unemployment

Average wealth per inhabitant is linked to other indicators also collected by the INE. On the one hand, it analyses unemployment in the municipalities by cross-referencing with data from the Economically Active Population Survey (EPA) and unemployment registered in job centres. Pozuelo de Alarcón is the municipality with the lowest unemployment rate, at 6.5%. This Madrid municipality is followed by San Sebastián, with an unemployment rate of 7.1%, and Sant Cugat del Vallès is the third municipality with the lowest unemployment rate, 7.4%. Among the 15 Spanish municipalities with most unemployment none is in Catalonia, while among the 15 where unemployment is lowest there is, in addition to Sant Cugat del Vallès, Castelldefels, with a rate of 9.8%, and Cerdanyola del Vallès, with an unemployment rate of 11.1%.

Thus, of the 15 municipalities with the lowest unemployment rate, six are in the Madrid region, four in the Basque Country, three in Catalonia and two in Galicia. On the other hand, among the municipalities with the most unemployment, out of the top five, four are in Andalusia: Linares (32.5%), Cordoba (27.8%), Granada (26.8%) and Alcalá de Guadaira (25.9%).

The INE also includes a life expectancy indicator. Sant Cugat del Vallès is also the top Catalan town at 84.4 years, and is in 10th place in the State. Pozuelo de Alarcón again leads this ranking, with a life expectancy of 86.2 years. The INE table shows that between the Spanish municipality with the highest life expectancy and the one with the lowest, which is La Línea de Concepción at 79.7 years, there is a difference of almost six and a half years.