An Approximation to the long-term absent de jure population in Catalonia: Calculation and geographical distribution of a generalized phenomena

The main aim of this article is to yield an approximation of the so-called long-term absent de jure population, those individuals who usually live away from the municipality where they are officially registered as inhabitants, through their enumeration and geographical distribution in 23 Catalan regions. Although the history of censuses an d local population registers is also the beginning of the long-term absent de jure population, the fact that people have become more mobile in recent years (which means an increase of geographical mobility), might be contributing to both an increase and a wider geographical spread. Statistical mismatches of daily commuting distances allow, through a process of reliability checking, an estimation of the long-term absent de jure population, thus the people who are most likely to be absent from what is meant to be their usual residence and present as «non residents» (de facto population) in other municipality. Data source used: Estadística de població de 1996.