Internal migration patterns of foreign-born immigrants in Spain: evidence from micro data

David Reher, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Javier Silvestre, Universidad de Zaragoza

The literature on the spatial distribution of international immigrants in counties with dense migratory tradition such as the USA, Canada and Australia is abundant. Not surprisingly, this is not the case with countries, such as Spain, where mass migration is relatively recent. In this paper we will look at the patterns of internal migration among foreign-born migrants to Spain. Unlike most studies available on this issue, the present analysis will be based on retrospective micro data. These data are been taken from the recent National Immigrant Survey [Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes (ENI–2007)] which contains both relatively full socio-economic information on international migrants as well as battery of questions about moves within Spain across municipal boundaries involving stays lasting at least one month. These data will enable us to track who, where and how often people moved about within Spain. The paper will make use of both descriptive and multivariate analytical techniques.