Spain's population breaks 49-million milestone for first time ever

Alfonso Torices

Madrid

Friday, 14 February 2025, 13:19 | Updated 14:44h.

Spain's population passed the 49-million population mark during Christmas holiday season in 2024. According to data provided by the INE national institute of statistics, on 1 January, there were 49,077,984 registered residents in Spain. The increase by 115,612 residents since the previous quarter records a new high for the country.

The Spanish census has expanded by almost one million inhabitants in just two years. It has registered 992,623 more people since January 2023, which represents a rate of growth unknown since the early years of the century, when the country was immersed in a cycle of powerful economic boom, making it a magnet for the outside world.

The significant and rapid increase in population is exclusively due to the very potent influx of foreigners since the summer of 2022. This trend coincides with the remarkable recovery of the economy and employment in Spain, with growth rates at the top of Europe. The figures mark a positive era after the deep economic and social crisis unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Immigration is so far the most effective vaccine against the demographic freeze threatening Spain. In the last five years, it has become normal for there to be more deaths than births in the country. A constant population decrease can be observed (20,505 fewer natives in the country since October 2024), especially due to the gradual ageing of people in Spain and the plummeting births rate.

The current large wave of immigration began between the spring and summer of 2022, coinciding with the general vaccination and control of Covid-19 waves. Peak arrivals occurred between October 2022 and January 2023. Since then, Spain's population has grown by more than 1% for seven quarters in a row, with the foreign segment growing at close to 2% in twelve months.

The rate of arrivals is still high, but mass immigration has been slowing for a year. It has gone from 579,929 new residents registered in Spain in a single year (from October 2022 to October 2023) to 458,289 registrations in the last twelve months. This means that the rate of population growth went from 1.3% to just over 0.9% in a year and a half (today 0.94%).

Despite the deceleration, the volume of immigration received by Spain is still very high. A total of 136,117 foreigners have arrived in the last quarter alone. The avalanche of arrivals over the last two decades has allowed residents born in other countries to comfortably exceed nine million people (9,37999972). They now account for 19.1% of all individuals registered on the Spanish census and will soon, possibly this year, account for one in every five inhabitants of Spain.

The main countries of origin of the migratory wave are practically the same quarter after quarter. At the top of the list are Colombia, with 43,400 new residents between October and January 2024; Venezuela, with 30,500; Morocco, with 27,700; and Peru, with 18,800. Much further down the line is Italy, as the leading European contributor (with 8,900 arrivals), followed by Honduras, Argentina, Ecuador and Ukraine.

The Spanish census is growing across the board, but the increase is very uneven in different areas of the country. During the fourth quarter of the year, the population in all regions and two regional cities rose, but with varying intensity. The territories with the greatest growth are the same as those in each statistical renewal. The four largest recipients are the regions of Madrid, Valencia and Catalonia, accompanied on this occasion by La Rioja and Murcia. Valencia doubled the rate of arrivals on a national level from October to January 2024.