Annual Population Census

The INE expands today the information of the Annual Population Censuses for 2024 with variables related to the years of arrival in the various territorial regions (Spain, autonomous communities, provinces, municipalities), as well as their previous place of residence. It also expands the information in the 2023 census with data on educational attainment and relationship to economic activity.

As of 1 January 2024, 25.7% of the 8,838,234 residents born abroad arrived in Spain in the previous two years. And 13.2% in the last year.

This percentage decreased as the year of arrival moved away from the census date, except in the decade from 2001 to 2010, when it reached 29.9%.

Among the main countries, 53.2% of those born in Ukraine who came to live in Spain did so in 2022 and 2023. It was followed by Colombia (40.1%) and Peru (35.9%).

In contrast, those born in Ecuador (11.8%), United Kingdom (13.4%) and France (13.8%) recorded the lowest percentages of arrivals in the last two years.

Meanwhile, more than half of the population born in Romania and Ecuador arrived in Spain in the decade from 2001 to 2010 (56.3% and 55.1%, respectively). In the case of France, the majority of arrivals, 24.3%, occurred before 1981.

According to the census, as of 1 January 2024, 35.3% of the population (17,177,362 people) had always resided in the same municipality since they were born. And 28.8% came from another municipality in the same province.

The relationship between the current place of residence and the previous one varied among the main cities. Thus, Cordoba (57.3%), Murcia (54.9%) and Seville (50.8%) had the largest percentages of population that have always resided in the same municipality in which they were born. At the opposite extreme were L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (18.0%), Palma (33.9%) and Alacant/Alicante (35.0%).

32.9% of people aged 15 and over had higher education in 2023, compared to 15.4% who had only completed primary education or lower.

If we restrict ourselves to the population between 25 and 64 years old, 41.8% had higher education.

By sex, the percentage was 45.9% in women and 37.7% in men. By age group, the largest difference was in the 25-29 age group (58.2% of women compared to 44.1% of men).

By nationality, the percentage of foreigners with higher education stood at 24.7%, while 28.7% had completed primary education or lower. These percentages were 27.2% and 23.3%, respectively, for those born abroad.

Among the main countries of birth, those born in Venezuela (48.7%), France (44.7%) and Argentina (43.6%) presented the highest percentages of the population with higher education.

On the contrary, those born in Morocco (9.0%), Romania (13.7%) and the Dominican Republic (17.0%) registered the lowest percentages of higher education graduates.

The provinces with the highest percentage of population with higher education in 2023 were Gipuzkoa (43.9%), Bizkaia (42.6%) and Madrid (41.8%). On the contrary, Cuenca (23.3%), Almería (23.4%) and Toledo (24.0%) presented the lowest.

The municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants with the highest percentage of persons aged 15 years old or over with higher education were concentrated around Madrid and Barcelona. In Tres Cantos, Las Rozas de Madrid and Sant Cugat del Vallés they exceeded 62%.

On the contrary, Rojales, Níjar and Jódar were the municipalities with the lowest percentage of the population with higher education, 7.6%, 8.7% and 12.8%, respectively.

Among the main countries, the nationalities that had the highest proportion of employed people among the population aged 16 and over as of 1 January 2023 were Chinese (62.1%), Ecuadorian (58.5%) and Bolivian (55.8%).

On the contrary, the British (23.3%), Colombians (29.9%) and Peruvians (32.8%) registered the lowest percentages of employed people.

The employed population according to the 2023 census increased generally throughout the territory compared to that registered in 2022.

If we consider municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, the ones with the highest increases in the employment rate of the population aged 16-64 were Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), Los Llanos de Aridane (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and Boiro (A Coruña), all of them with increases of around five percentage points.

On the other hand, those with the largest decreases were Orpesa/Oropesa del Mar (Castellón/Castelló), Lloret de Mar and Castell-Platja d'Aro (both in Girona), all three with decreases of more than two percentage points.

The data are definitive. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.