The Spanish population experienced a half-million growth between July 2022 and July 2023, which was driven by families of foreign nationality, accounting for 97.48 per cent of the total growth.
According to the Continuous Population Survey (ECP) report carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the country’s population increased by 537,611 – 524,087 of whom had foreign citizenship, while the number of Spanish nationals saw an increase of only 13,524.
Such data show that the population of foreign nationality in Spain is now 6.34 million, representing 13.1 per cent of the country’s total population. Spanish citizens still represent the majority, with a population exceeding 42 million people, 86.9 per cent of the entire Spanish population.
Over the past year, the population of foreign nationality experienced growth in all provinces and autonomous cities in Spain, with particularly notable increases in A Coruña (16.7 per cent), Lugo (15.44 per cent) and Asturias (15.11 per cent).
Based on the ECP survey, the foreign-born population was the driving force behind population growth in 24 of the 32 provinces where the Spanish-born population declined. At the same time, the foreign population played a particularly prominent role in the demographic boost, especially in some provinces such as Valencia, with 98.1 per cent of the total increase, Barcelona – 96.84 per cent) Seville – 96.48 per cent, and Lleida – 96 per cent.
As of July 2023, the provinces with the highest percentage of foreign nationals in their population were as follows:
- Alicante with 22.9 per cent
- Almeria 22.4 per cent
- Girona 21.8 per cent
On the other hand, the provinces with the lowest percentage of foreign nationals in their population were Jaén, with 3.4 per cent of the total population, Córdoba, with 3.5 per cent. and Badajoz, with 3.8 per cent.
INE data also revealed that Spain is facing negative natural growth, with deaths exceeding births, since 2017. In addition, the monthly number of births for the first half of 2023 has reached its lowest point in the last eight years, reaching 155,629 births, which marks a decrease of 2.5 per cent compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, in 2022, Spain’s population became the sixth oldest in the European Union, with an average age of 45.1 years. During the last decade, Spain has also experienced a noticeable ageing process, with the average age increasing by 4.3 years. As the European Office for Statistics, Eurostat explains, this ageing trend is second only to Portugal within the European Union.
Besides, population projections provided by INE show that Spain is expected to experience a net population increase of around 5.6 million due to migration by 2036.
