Galicia's inhabitants are known as Galicians (Galician: galegos, Spanish: gallegos). For well over a century Galicia has grown more slowly than the rest of Spain, due largely to emigration to Latin America and to other parts of Spain. Sometimes Galicia has lost population in absolute terms. In 1857, Galicia had Spain's densest population and constituted 11.5% of the national population. As of 2007, only 6.1% of the Spanish population resides in the autonomous community. This is due to an exodus of Galician people since the 19th century, first to South America and later to Central Europe.