Statistical use of the Register of Spaniards resident abroad

• 1. Contact

  • 1.1. Contact organisation

    • National Statistics Institute of Spain

  • 1.5. Contact mail address

    • Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

• 2. Metadata update

  • 2.1. Metadata last certified

    • 05/03/2026

  • 2.2. Metadata last posted

    • 17/03/2022

  • 2.3. Metadata last update

    • 05/03/2026

• 3. Statistical presentation

  • 3.1. Data description

    • The Register of Spaniards Resident Abroad (RSRA) Statistic provides a count of the Spanish population usually resident abroad, as at 1 January of each year, by the following classification variables: country of residence, sex, age, place of birth and municipality of registration in Spain for electoral purposes.

       

       

  • 3.2. Classification system
    • • Clasificaciones utilizadas

        • For territorial disaggregations, the statistics use the official classification of Autonomous Communities, provinces and municipalities in effect on the reference date for the publication by municipality of registration for electoral purposes and the standard list of countries for the publication by country of residence.

  • 3.3. Sector coverage

    • Collects all Spanish nationals registered in the Register of Spaniards Resident Abroad (RSRA).

      Royal Decree 3425/2000, of 15 December, on the registration of Spaniards in the Consular Register of Foreign Consular Offices establishes the obligatory nature of the registration of Spaniards who habitually reside abroad and those who transfer their habitual residence to a foreign country in the Register corresponding to the circumscription where they are, thereby registering them in the corresponding RSRA.

  • 3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
    • • Spanish population resident abroad

        • This comprises all persons of Spanish nationality, regardless of whether this is their only nationality, registered as habitual residents in the Consular Office Registration Register corresponding to their residence, whose recording has been notified to the INE via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MFAC).

  • 3.5. Statistical unit

    • Person of Spanish nationality residing abroad.

  • 3.6. Statistical population

    • The target population under study are all persons of Spanish nationality residing abroad.

  • 3.7. Reference area

    • From the point of view of residence abroad, all countries are covered.

      In terms of municipality of registration for electoral purposes, the entire national territory is covered.

  • 3.8. Time coverage

    • This statistic has been carried out annually since 2009.

  • 3.9. Base period

    • .

• 4. Unit of measure

  • 4.1. Unit of measure

    • Number of persons

• 5. Reference period

  • 5.1. Reference period

    • The reference period is 1 January of each year. It corresponds to the status of the RSRA central file updated as at 1 January of each year, which includes the variations in the registers of origin up to the penultimate working day of the previous year and processed up to the first month of the reference year.

      Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2026

• 6. Institutional mandate

  • 6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

    • The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2025-2028, approved by Royal Decree 1225/2024, of  3 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2025-2028. (Statistics of the State Administration).

      The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2025-2028, approved by Royal Decree 1225/2024, of  3 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2025-2028. (Statistics of the State Administration).

  • 6.2. Data sharing

    • The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.

       

       

• 7. Confidentiality

  • 7.1. Confidentiality - policy

    • The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society

  • 7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

    • INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.

      The data from the register of Spaniards residing abroad shall be transferred to other public Administrations upon request without the prior consent of the affected party, only when these are necessary for the exercise of their respective competences, and exclusively for matters in which residence abroad is relevant data. They may also be used to compile official statistics subject to statistical secrecy, in the terms set forth in Law 12/1989 of 9 May on the Public Statistical Function.

      Outside of these conditions, the data in the register are confidential and access to them is regulated by the terms of Organic Law 5/1992, of 29 October, on the Regulation of the Automated Treatment of Personal Data and Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations.

• 8. Release policy

  • 8.1. Release calendar

    • The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.

  • 8.2. Release calendar access

    • The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)

  • 8.3. User access

    • The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice

• 9. Frequency of dissemination

  • 9.1. Frequency of dissemination

    • Annual.

• 10. Accessibility and clarity

  • 10.1. News release

    • The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web

  • 10.2. Publications

    • The results of the statistics are disseminated through the INE website, with a press release.

      The following tables are presented:

      • Population by country of residence, sex and age groups (five-yearly)
      • Population by country of residence, sex and place of birth (Spain, country of residence, other countries)
      • Population by municipality of registration and sex
      • Population by country of residence (with 1000 or more residents), province of registration for electoral purposes (grouped by Autonomous Community), sex and age (large groups)
      • Population by country of residence (with 1000 or more residents), province of registration for electoral purposes (grouped by Autonomous Community), sex and place of birth (province of registration, other province, foreigner)
      • For those born in Spain: Population by country of residence (with 1000 or more residents), province of birth (grouped by Autonomous Community), sex and age (large groups).

      Simultaneously the following population series are provided since 2010:

      • Spanish population residing abroad by country of residence, sex and reference year.
      • Spanish population resident abroad by country of residence, five-year age groups and reference year.
      • Spanish population resident abroad by province of registration, sex and reference year.
      • Spanish population resident abroad by province of registration, five-year age groups and reference year.
      • Spanish population resident abroad by province of registration, place of birth and reference year.

      Additionally, since the statistics as at 1 January 2014, similar information is disseminated for the group of new registrations made in the previous year to the reference year.

  • 10.3. On-line database

    • INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

      The results of this statistic can be consulted on the INE website, through INEBASE / Demography and population / Register. Population by municipality or through the following link:

      https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736177014&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254734710990

  • 10.4. Micro-data access
    • A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section

      This statistic does not disseminate microdata files for public use.

  • 10.5. Other

    • Interested users can request, through the Dissemination Area of the INE, specific exploitations of information, which are carried out preserving the confidentiality of the data.

  • 10.6. Documentation on methodology

    • Detailed information in: https://www.ine.es/metodologia/en/t20/t203024509_en.pdf

  • 10.7. Quality documentation

    • Sections 10.6 through 17 of this document are the user-oriented quality report for this operation.

• 11. Quality management

  • 11.1. Quality assurance

    • Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

      The elaboration process of the statistics has controls established to detect and correct errors in order to guarantee its quality.

      As for the input data, the classification variables of the statistical operation undergo a control of valid values similar to that of the monthly updating process of the central file of the RSRA, as explained in the section on data validation.

      As for the process, statistical packages are used for the tabulation that allow to monitor the result of the crossings by the different classification variables, detecting the occurrences of invalid crossings or the absence of data in the expected valid crossings.

  • 11.2. Quality assessment

    • The quality of the data provided by the statistical use of the RSRA is conditioned by the quality of the original information in the Consular Registers.

      The INE is responsible for the coordination of these registers and is in charge, among other tasks, for preventing duplication

• 12. Relevance

  • 12.1. User needs

    • The main users and uses of this information are:

      The Bank of Spain, for the elaboration of the Balance of Payments information system.

      The Autonomous Communities, for internal analysis and preparation of press releases

      University researchers, for research purposes.

      Restriction: It is not possible to deal with requests for information on outgoing flows of Spaniards abroad, as they are not directly deducible from the file.

  • 12.2. User satisfaction

    • The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013,  2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

      On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

       

  • 12.3. Completeness

    • Statistics provides 100% of the information requested in the National Statistical Plan.

      R1= 100%.

• 13. Accuracy and reliability

  • 13.1. Overall accuracy

    • The global reliability of the statistics is conditioned to the reliability of the base file that is exploited, the central file of the RSRA. Deregistrations due to change of residence to Spain may be underestimated, as this data is obtained indirectly by contrast with that of the Register of Spaniards Resident in Spain; the same occurs with deregistrations due to death, which are not registered if the relatives do not register them in the Consular Civil Register. Registrations may be underestimated if Spaniards who habitually reside abroad do not register in the Consular Office's Register.

      Statistical exploitation of the variable school or academic certificate or title is not carried out because it has a low degree of reliability.

  • 13.2. Sampling error

    • There are no sampling errors because it is the direct exploitation of a register.

  • 13.3. Non-sampling error

    • Non-sampling errors in this statistic are, mainly, those derived from the coverage of the Consular Registers, whose situation is explained in the section on Global Accuracy.

• 14. Timeliness and punctuality

  • 14.1. Timeliness

    • The statistics are published between 60 to 90 days after the reference period (1 January each year).

      TP2=78

  • 14.2. Punctuality

    • Data dissemination is carried out in accordance with the structural statistics availability calendar that the INE prepares and publishes for each year.

      TP3=0

• 15. Coherence and Comparability

  • 15.1. Comparability - geographical

    • The processing of these statistics is the same for the whole national territory and for all countries of residence. In this way, the results are perfectly comparable for any geographical disaggregation.

  • 15.2. Comparability - over time

    • The results are comparable over time. Annual series of data are published since the statistical exploitation as at 1 January 2009.

      The number of comparable elements is 18

      CC2=18

  • 15.3. Coherence - cross domain

    • It is not applicable given the nature of the data and the absence of other comparable statistics. It only allows to obtain the distribution of those registered in the consular registers by their registration variables, as at the reference date of the statistics, without any possibility to provide the causes of variation with respect to the previous year. For this reason, it is not possible to analyse its coherence with the Residential Variation Statistics in terms of migratory flows from Spain abroad and vice versa.

  • 15.4. Coherence - internal

    • The coherence between the variables that are exploited is contrasted in all phases of the statistical process.

• 16. Cost and burden

  • 16.1. Cost and burden

    • The estimated budget appropriation necessary to finance this statistic foreseen in the 2026 annual Programme is 46.98 thousand euros.

      Being a statistic based on the information provided by administrative registers there is no burden for the respondents.

       

• 17. Data revision

  • 17.1. Data revision - policy

    • The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

      This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

      The data are final and not subject to revision.If errors are detected and the data must be changed, an explanatory note is added along with the information in order to warn users that the data have been changed. Whenever possible users are directly informed about these errors.

  • 17.2. Data revision - practice

    • The data are final and not subject to revision.

• 18. Statistical processing

  • 18.1. Source data

    • Data of those registered in the central file of the RSRA, as at 1 January of each year.

  • 18.2. Frequency of data collection

    • Monthly.

  • 18.3. Data collection

    • The central file of the RSRA is updated monthly with the variations (registrations, deregistrations and modifications) of registrations in the Consular Register of Foreign Consular Offices, communicated to the INE by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with the changes of residence to Spain from abroad by registration in the Municipal Register, communicated by the Municipal Councils.

  • 18.4. Data validation

    • The data are validated in the process of monthly update of the file. Serious errors are returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, for correction and new remission and minor errors are cleaned and also communicated in order to ensure consistency with the original data.

  • 18.5. Data compilation

    • There are no automatic cleaning processes, as the data are previously validated and are consistent.

  • 18.6. Adjustment

    • Not applicable.

• 19. Comment

  • 19.1. Comment