67,000 new residents have pushed Spain’s population to almost 49 million people

Spain has experienced significant population growth over the three months, adding 67,367 new residents reaching a record high of 48,797,875 people as of July 1st, 2024. This data was released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) yesterday, Wednesday.

This increase is largely attributed to the influx of foreign-born residents, as the number of people born in Spain decreased by 21,680 to 39,761,459, a drop of 0.05%.

Conversely, the population of foreign-born residents rose by 89,047 to 9,036,416, marking a 1% increase and representing 18.5% of Spain’s total population.

Among these new arrivals were 36,900 Colombians, 25,100 Moroccans, and 21,400 Venezuelans. Other notable increases were seen among Peruvians, Italians, Argentinians, Ukrainians, Hondurans, and Paraguayans. This influx was balanced by the departure of 11,100 Spanish nationals and significant numbers of Moroccans, Colombians, and others.

Growth Trends and Regional Variations:

Spain’s population growth has been gradually slowing down over the past two years. The annual increase of 415,369 people equates to an average of 1,135 new residents per day, though this figure has been declining. The growth rate peaked at 1.32% in early 2023 but has since decreased to 0.86% in the last quarter.

Regional Population Changes:

Population growth varied across the different regions of Spain. The second quarter saw increases in 14 of the 17 autonomous communities with Extremadura, Andalucía, and Castilla y León experiencing slight declines. The most notable increases were in Madrid (0.33%), Valencia (0.28%), and the Balearic Islands (0.28%). Madrid saw the highest absolute increase, with 23,198 new residents, followed by Catalonia (18,517) and Valencia (15,189).

Annual figures show population drops only in Extremadura (0.16%), and increases in Valencia (1.69%), Madrid (1.63%), the Balearic Islands (1.21%), and Catalonia (1.12%). The most significant gains in the number of residents were in Madrid (112,860), Catalonia (89,581), and Valencia (88,921).

Currently, approximately 60% of Spain’s population resides in four regions: Andalucía (8,637,152), Catalonia (8,068,180), Madrid (7,058,041), and Valencia (5,359,309).