Madrid's GDP per capita outpaces Catalonia's as commuting patterns widen the gap, Barcelona Chamber says

Madrid's GDP per capita is increasingly outstripping Catalonia's because of the number of people who work in the Spanish capital but live in other regions, according to an analysis by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.

Catalonia's GDP per capita is 17% lower than Madrid's, but the chamber argues that the gap does not reflect a significant difference in productivity or labour market participation, which are broadly similar in the two autonomous communities.

The chamber also raised its forecasts for Catalonia's economic growth to 2.8% this year and 2% in 2027, driven primarily by domestic demand.

Divergence in GDP explained

The divergence in GDP per capita between Madrid and Catalonia "is explained almost entirely" by the difference in the ratio of employed people to the total population, the chamber said.

In 2000, the share of the total population in employment was virtually identical in the two regions, at 48.5% in Catalonia and 48.6% in Madrid.

By 2025, the gap had widened to more than eight percentage points, with the figures standing at 49.5% and 57.7%, respectively.

The chamber attributes much of the difference to the growing number of people who work in Madrid but live outside the region, a pattern that is less pronounced in Catalonia.

Neither the unemployment rate nor the ratio of the economically active population to the total population explains the widening gap in GDP per capita, it said.

In 2021, according to figures from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) cited by the chamber, Madrid had 348,882 workers who lived outside the region, while 127,566 Madrid residents worked elsewhere. That left a net inflow of 221,316 workers.

In Catalonia, the equivalent net balance was 42,348. Some 104,628 people living outside Catalonia worked there, while 62,280 Catalan residents worked elsewhere.

Catalonia has fallen further behind Madrid in GDP per capita in recent years. Last year, Catalonia's figure stood at 83% of Madrid's, down from 94% at the start of the century.

Productivity, by contrast, has remained relatively stable compared with Madrid.