OUT-MIGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS IN SPAIN

Almost 5% of immigrants residing in Spain took the decision to leave the country in 2009. Spain has recently become a receiving country for international immigrants and the phenomenon of out-migration of this type is on the rise. However, not all out-migration involves a return to the country of origin. The aim of this paper is to provide some insights into the analysis of out-migration of Spanish immigrants, classifying it as either return or non-return out-migration, for the period 2002-2009. The effects of the available socio-demographic variables, and certain destination and origin variables of the migrants, on the probability of a return outflow of Spanish immigrants are analysed. The main results are that Asian, African and Latin-American out-migrants residing in Spain have lower probabilities of returning to their birth country. At the same time, an increase in GDP per capita in the destination country or an increase in the unemployment rate of the origin region increases the probability of non-return out-migration, which is usually more motivated by economic factors than return migration. Additionally, the greater the share of migrants in the population of the region of residence, the greater the probability that out-migrants will return home.