North-South Divide

Towns and cities in southern Spain, including Torrevieja and Cartagena, suffer from greater levels compared to their northern counterparts, according to a survey published by the AIS using government. The study investigated towns with a population of over 50 thousand people, and found that, apart from  Madrid, the country’s wealthiest towns were all located in the north, while its poorest were all in the south, with the most poverty-stricken top ten all in the south.

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The poorest municipality is Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave bordering Morocco, where 44.6 percent of people are at risk of poverty. This is followed by the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz, where 38.5 percent of people are at risk of poverty, and Lorca in Murcia, where the figure is 38.3 percent. Torrevieja is in fourth place on 35.8 percent, closely followed by Cartagena on 35.5 percent. In ninth place is Molina de Segura in Murcia on 33.9 percent.

In contrast, the wealthiest town is the Basque region capital of Vitoria, where 7.3 percent of people are at risk of poverty, followed by another Basque town, Getxo, with a figure of 7.5 percent.