Human capital in Spain is concentrated in the cities with more population and greater technological specialization
The five largest cities in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Zaragoza) represent 15% of the total population, with almost a quarter (24.4%) of total Spanish university graduates residing in them.
The Bancaja Foundation and Ivie have published “La Geografía del Capital Humano en España”, a study which examines the territorial distribution of human capital at regional and local level. The report analyzes the changes in levels and concentration of human capital in Spain during the last decade, taking as a reference the 2011 Population and Housing Census published in 2013 by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). The study is structured in three sections and provides up-to-date information on the geographical distribution of human capital in Spain; the relationship between human capital and spatial mobility; and the extent to which the labour market uses the available human capital.
Other messages found in the study are:
- Throughout the Spanish cities, 58% of human capital is made up of resident people originally from other cities
- The crisis has affected to a lesser degree those territories which are more specialized in more sophisticated activities and with more skilled workers
- There is heterogeneity among regions, as the resident population of the Community of Madrid has 25% more human capital than the region of Extremadura. However, the provincial and regional disparity in the levels of human capital has been reduced
Further information (in Spanish)
Press release | Presentation | Report