A socioeconomic survey of the living conditions of the foreign population in Spain: A case study of the province of Almería

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the major demographic changes that Spain has undergone as a result of the considerable increase of foreign population over the last few years. Since the province of Almeria qualifies as one where the presence of foreign population is stronger, it then seems adequate to conduct a socioeconomic study of the living conditions of this group in this city. To this purpose, we designed a questionnaire consisting of thirty questions divided into four subsections, in order to elicit primary, first-hand information on a number of foreigners based in Almeria. Thus, drawing on the profile of each respondent, their nationalities as well as their geographical distribution by municipalities, we have gathered a representative sample of 220 surveys which has provided us with realistic insights into this quota. An important conclusion emerging from our study is that, although the results reported here are consistent with other national surveys that have been previously carried out, a number of significant differences have been pinpointed, especially regarding the volume of income as well as the housing characteristics of the productive sector in which the foreigners in question are employed.