Spain's population exceeds 49.5 million thanks to the arrival of foreigners, according to data from the INE, the Spanish statistics institute. The data also reveals that today, for the first time, the number of residents born in other countries surpasses 10 million, meaning one in five. Catalonia of the eight millionForeigners represent 19%, according to Idescat.

The arrival of international tourists continues to grow, but at a slower pace. The number of foreign travelers who visited Catalonia between January and November 2015 was over 19 million, according to data published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The sector is thus heading towards a new record high this year, although it is beginning to show signs of stabilization and moving away from the euphoria it experienced after the pandemic.

The arrival of international tourists to Catalonia has been steadily slowing for months. The post-pandemic euphoria propelled the sector to figures that seem difficult to replicate. Now, hotels are seeing bookings slow, with fewer foreign travelers this summer compared to last, and shorter stays. In September, Catalonia received approximately 2.02 million international tourists, a figure representing a 1.4% drop compared to the same month last year, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published this Friday.

July, August, and September, the three busiest months of the tourist season in our country, closed with a new record for employment in Catalonia, but also with more people losing their jobs. This is indicated by data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Tourist arrivals reached unprecedented levels for the sector since the pandemic, when the lifting of restrictions and vaccination campaigns unleashed a collective euphoria for travel. But this boom is beginning to peak, especially in the most crowded and expensive destinations. This is evidenced by the figures recorded this August, the prime month for vacations, when Catalan hotels once again saw a decrease in international travelers.

The consumer price index (CPI, the indicator that measures the cost of living) stood at 2.4% in Catalonia in August, three-tenths of a percentage point below the Spanish rate of 2.7%, amid softening food prices due to cheaper fruit. The National Statistics Institute (INE) confirmed this Friday the inflation figure released for all of Spain two weeks ago, as well as the underlying inflation rate (excluding energy and fresh food, the most volatile factors), which stood at 2.4% year-on-year, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than in July. Thus, the year-on-year rate in Catalonia rose one-tenth of a percentage point in August compared to the previous month.

In a world with fewer births and greater longevity, the demographic challenge facing most advanced economies is imminent. The population structure is changing and increasingly resembles less a pyramid with a broad base made up of young people and a narrow top of older people. Instead, there is now an obelisk, with its foundation eroded by low birth rates and a growing top spurred by increased life expectancy. This is reflected in the dossier. Challenges and policies in the age of longevity, published this Monday by CaixaBank Research, in which the banking entity analyzes through different articles what economic scenario awaits us as the generation of the baby boomers people are beginning to retire en masse. He warns, for example, that in order to finance pensions it will be necessary to raise the retirement age to 68.

Home sales soared in June in Spain, and at an even faster rate in Catalonia, according to property transfer data published Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). 2024. Specifically, 9,358 home sales were closed, of which only 23.3% were new construction. This figure registered a slight decline of 0.3% in Catalonia and 1.7% in the country as a whole.

Catalonia was the autonomous community where unemployment grew the most in the first quarter, with a weak start to the year for the labor market, according to data published this Monday in the Active Population Survey (EPA) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Specifically, 47,200 new jobless cases were registered, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 14.3%.

Last year in Spain, the pandemic produced levels of mortality unimaginable since the post-war period. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) has released the provisional data on deaths, provisional births and marriages last year and has counted nearly half a million deaths in the State (492,930), the highest figure since 1941. Although the Ministry of Health closed 2020 with an added 51,078 deaths from coronavirus, the excess mortality was much higher: in total there were 75,303 deaths compared to 2019, 17.7% more. The most important increase is in the Community of Madrid, where mortality grew by 41.2%. As for Catalonia, it grew by 23.5%, in the Valencian Country by 10.4% and in the Balearic Islands by 7.1%.

After a year of pandemic, there are still about 88,100 more unemployed in Catalonia than in the first quarter of 2020. This was confirmed on Thursday by data from the Labour Force Survey (EPA) published by the INE, which confirms that the last three months unemployment fell by 38,000 people and the rate that observes unemployment fell to 12.9%. The start of 2021, therefore, resulted in the creation of 33,000 new jobs.

The Spanish economy recorded a historic decline in GDP of 10.8% in 2020, according to data published on Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The decline, however, is lower than the one that had advanced this organism at the end of January when the advanced data placed it at -11%, that is, two tenths more than the final data. Despite these two tenths, the downturn in the Spanish economy due to the pandemic was the deepest since the Civil War.