This paper provides some new insights into the volume, age composition and
geographical pattern of migration between provinces of those of working age
in 1988 and 1994 based on annual registration data. Migration efficiencies
are used to indicate that net migration is becoming less important as a me
chanism for redistributing the population overall, although age-specific ef
ficiencies vary geographically. Age selectivity is examined using five-year
age groups to exemplify migration trends in particular provinces, and thre
e broad age groups to contrast the different geographical dynamics of inter
provincial migration for young, mid and older working age migrants. The pap
er quantifies the importance of return migration in Spain in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. The research is part of an ESRC-funded project on Interna
l Migration and Regional Population Dynamics.