The last quarter of 2023 showed remarkable growth in the Hispanic population, resulting in the highest number ever: 48,592,909 inhabitants, up 1.06%. A notable fact is that this growth is largely due to an increase in foreign-born individuals, who now account for 13.4 per cent of the total population, with a number of 6,491,502 foreigners. The year 2023 saw a total population growth of 507,548.
Catalonia and Madrid in particular experienced significant population growth, at 1.7% and 1.4% respectively. This growth is mainly driven by the influx of foreign immigrants, making them 16.5% and 15.4% of the total population, respectively.
Andalusia (1.2%) and the Valencian region (1.1%) also saw a noticeable increase in population, albeit more evenly divided between Spaniards and foreigners. In Andalusia, foreigners currently represent 10.5% of the population, while in the Valencian Community they account for 12.7%.
Spain’s recent population growth is mainly characterised by the increase of foreign immigrants, which has resulted in a historically high percentage of foreigners in the total population. However, the growth is not evenly spread across all autonomous regions, but is mainly concentrated in Catalonia and Madrid, according to the latest figures from the Spanish statistics office INE, which were recently released.
Foreign communities in Spain have become increasingly diverse in recent years, with a growing number of nationalities represented. More than 200 different nationalities are expected to be present in Spain by 2024.
The majority of foreigners in Spain are from other European countries, especially Romanians, British, Italians and Germans who form large communities. The number of Romanians and British is expected to increase further in the coming years. According to the most recent data, there are officially (registered in the population register) 55,417 Dutch nationals and 40,929 Belgians residing in Spain.
In addition, there has been significant growth of Asian nationalities in Spain in recent years, especially Chinese, Indian and Pakistani who form large communities. This trend looks set to continue in 2024 as well.
