Introduction: Immigration and Mixed Marriages in Catalonia, Spain

One of the less researched but fundamental aspects of the settlement and accommodation of immigrants in receiving countries is the relationship between migration and life course, particularly with respect to family and household dynamics in migration and marriage and family formation in the host country. This relationship includes processes of endogamy and exogamy (i.e. marrying within/outside one's own group), an aspect crucial to understanding processes of interethnic relations and social incorporation in plural societies.

Spain is the country in the European Union that has undergone the greatest increase in international immigration in the last few years, in 2006 receiving nearly 45 per cent of all immigrants arriving in the EU. The Padrón (the Municipal Register Data which includes both registrants with and without legally documented residence), as of 1 January 2006, reported 4,144,166 foreign residents living in Spain, representing 9.3 per cent of the total population (INE 2007a). With the increase in international immigration and the permanent settlement of immigrants in Spain in recent years, mixed marriages and the formation of multi-local, transcultural, and transnational families are growing realities. Data provided by INE (2007b) for 2006 recorded that 24,412 Spanish nationals married foreigners –11.5 per cent of total marriages (211,818) – an increase of 6 per cent over 2001 figures.

Catalonia is the most populated autonomous region in Spain and the autonomous community with the largest number of foreigners: the Padrón, as of 1 January 2006, recorded 913,757 resident foreigners living in Catalonia, representing 12.8 per cent of the total Catalonian population (INE 2007a). According to data provided by IDESCAT (2007) for 2005, the proportion of mixed marriages between people of Spanish nationality and those of foreign nationality was 14.8 per cent (4,590 of the total 31,140 marriages). In comparison to data for 2001, there has been an increase of 8.4 per cent. Spanish men accounted for 62.9 per cent of those involved in mixed marriages in Catalonia, and they married Latin Americans (50.1 per cent), chiefly Colombians, followed by European women of the non-European Economic Area (19.1 per cent), mostly Eastern Europeans.