Spain’s southern population suffers greatest poverty

A new study of poverty in Spain has confirmed the impression of a rich industrial north and a poor agrarian south.

The ten poorest towns were all found to be in the south while the ten richest were in the north with the exception of the capital, Madrid.

The poorest municipality was Ceuta, the country’s enclave in north Africa which is frequently the target of migrants seeking a toe-hold in Europe. There as much as 44.6% of the inhabitants are at risk of poverty.

At the same time, the richest town was Vitoria, the capital of the Basque Country, where just 7% of the people are threatened with poverty.

In fact, five of Spain’s richest towns are in the Basque region, long a key area for industrial production. The region enjoys the country’s highest GDP per capital at €30,051.

This is in marked contrast to Andalusia which suffers lowest incomes per capital at €18,000.

The Great Recession particularly disadvantaged people on low incomes, according to the report. The poorest 10% suffered a loss of 13% of their real incomes each year between 2007 and 2011. The richest 10%, however, lost just 1.4%.

Towns most at risk of poverty:

The national average for Spaniards at risk of poverty is 22%.

The richest areas:

The research considered towns with populations of 50,000 or more.

It was based on data from Spain’s office of national statistics.