The resident population in Spain As of January 1, 2024, it stood at 48,619,695 inhabitants, 534,334 more people than on the same date in 2023 (1.1% more), according to data from the Annual Population Census published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This increase It was mainly due to foreignerswhose number grew by 412,662 people, until exceeding 6.5 million for the first time. Of the total residents, 42,117,413 had Spanish nationality (86.6%) and 6,502,282 had foreign nationality (13.4%). Compared to the previous year, the number of people of foreign nationality increased by 6.8%, while those of Spanish nationality increased by just 0.29%.
The most numerous foreigners on January 1, 2024 were the Moroccans (920,693), the romanians (620,463) and the Colombians (587,477), but the largest increases in immigrants during 2023 occurred among citizens of Colombia (124,566 more), Peru (47,598 more) and Venezuela (47,095). On the other hand, the largest decreases in the foreign population were recorded among citizens of the United Kingdom (-11,635), Romania (-9,292) and Bulgaria (-2,388).
Of the 48,619,695 inhabitants, 24,792,824 are women and 23,826,871 are men. Both sexes increased by 1.1% compared to the beginning of last year. By age, those under 16 years of age fall by 1.13% and stand at 6,974,590 and The age group that increases the most is those over 64 years of ageThese people are 9,928,368, 20.4% of the total and 2.48% more than in January 2023.
By autonomous community, during 2023 the population increased in all territories. The largest increases occurred in the Community of Madrid (137,365 more people), Catalonia (110,268 more) and Comunitat Valenciana (103,090 more). In relative terms, the largest increases occurred in the Community of Madrid and the Valencian Community (2.0% in both) and in the Balearic Islands (1.8%).
By provinces, the number of inhabitants increased in all, except six. Those that grew the most were Valencia and Madrid (2.0% both) and Alicante (1.9%). And the largest decreases were recorded in Zamora (-0.4%), Jaén (-0.3%) and León (-0.2%).
Population concentration
He 40.2% of the population resided on January 1, 2024 in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitantswhile 27.1% live in towns with between 10,001 and 50,000 inhabitants and 13% live in towns with 50,001 to 100,000 residents. For their part, 16.7% did so in municipalities with between 1,001 and 10,000 inhabitants, and 3.0% in municipalities with 1,000 or less.
In 4,298 of the 8,132 municipalities existing as of January 1, 2024 (52.9% of the total) the population increased or remained the same during 2023. The most populated cities continue to be Madrid (3,422,416 inhabitants), Barcelona (1,686,208), Valencia (824,340), Zaragoza (691,037) and Seville (686,741).
Likewise, the largest population increases in relative terms occurred in the municipalities of Torrevieja (6.7%), Arrecife (5.1%) and Granadilla de Abona (3.9%). On the contrary, The largest decreases occurred in Cádiz (-0.8%), San Fernando (-0.3%) and Getxo (-0.2%).
As a curiosity, the INE states that the province with the most municipalities is Burgoswhich has 371 different municipal areas, while at the other extreme is Las Palmas, which is the province with the fewest localities, 34 specifically.
By place of birth
43.4% of the population resided on January 1, 2024 in the same municipality in which they were born and 21.8% in another municipality in the same province.
For its part, the percentage of people born abroad reached 18.2% (on the same date in 2023 it was 17.1%). Among those born abroad, 12.4% (more than one million inhabitants) were born in Morocco, 9.7% in Colombia and 6.8% in Venezuela.