Censo Anual de Población

The INE publishes today the first data from the Annual Population Census 2025, and also incorporates other employment variables into the 2023 Census, such as occupation, professional situation (salaried workers, self-employed, etc.), the activity of the establishment, or the municipality of employment. Also published today, for the first time, is the civil status of the population for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 censuses.

The resident population in Spain on 1 January 2025 stood at 49,128,297 inhabitants, that is 508,602 more people than in 2024 on the same date (an increase of 1.0%).

Of this total, 42,216,326 had Spanish nationality (85.9%) and 6,911,971 had foreign nationality (14.1%).

The number of Spanish national increased by 0.2% and foreign nationals increased by 6.3% compared to the previous year.

The most numerous foreign nationals as of 1 January 2025 were Moroccans (968,999), Colombians (676,534) and Romanians (609,270).

Among the main nationalities, the largest increases during 2024 were among citizens from Colombia (98,057 more), Venezuela (52,555 more), and Morocco (48,306). The largest decreases were recorded among those from Romania (-11,193), Ukraine (-7,907) and the United Kingdom (-5,940).

As of 1 January 2025, 42.8% of the population resided in the same municipality in which they were born and 21.6% in another municipality in the same province.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people born abroad reached 19.3% (compared to 18.2% on the same date in 2024).

Among those born abroad, 12.3% (more than one million inhabitants) were born in Morocco, 10.3% in Colombia, and 7.3% in Venezuela.

During 2024, the population rose in all autonomous communities, Extremadura. The largest increases occurred in Cataluña (111,895 more people), Comunidad Valenciana (105,897 more) and Comunitat de Madrid (104,618 more).

In relative terms, the largest increases were found in the Comunitat Valenciana (2.0%), Illes Balears and the Comunidad de Madrid (1.5% in both).

By provinces, the number of inhabitants increased in all except six. The fastest growing were Castellón/Castelló, Alicante/Alacant and Guadalajara (2.0% in all three). The greatest decreases were registered in Zamora (-0.4%), Córdoba and Jaén (-0.1% in both). 

On 1 January 2025, 40.9% of the population resided in municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants and 27.0% in municipalities from 10,001 to 50,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, 16.6% of the population lived in municipalities with inhabitant figures between 1,001 and 10,000, while 2.9% lived in those with 1,000 or fewer inhabitants.

In 4,386 of the 8,132 municipalities existing on 1 January 2025 (53.9% of the total), the population increased or remained the same during 2024.

Among the main cities, the largest relative population increases occurred in Torrevieja (4.9%), Gandia (3.6%), and Benidorm (3.5%). The largest decreases were recorded in Cádiz (-1.0%), Fuengirola (-0.9%) and Talavera de la Reina (-0.9%).

As of 1 January 2023, the most frequent occupations in two digits of the CNO-11 were Professionals in pre-school, primary, secondary and post-secondary education (with 4.9% of the total employed), Assistants in shops and department stores (4.9%) and Salaried workers in restaurant services (4.4%).

By sex and among the top occupations, 95.0% of Workers in structural construction projects and similar, 91.4% of Vehicle drivers for urban or road transport, and 72.2% of Agricultural, forestry and fishing workers were men.

In contrast, women accounted for 95.5% of Domestic employees, 82.9% of Health services and personal care workers, and 78.1% of the Other cleaning personnel.

By nationality, foreign nationals accounted for 43.5% of Domestic employees, 39.6% of Agricultural, forestry and fishing workers and 22.4% of Salaried restaurant and catering workers.

By academic background, as at 1 January 2023, 30.0% of Restaurant, personal, protection services workers and sales staff had a higher education qualification. This percentage fell to 16.4% and to 16.5%, respectively, for Qualified workers in the agricultural, livestock, forestry and fishing sector and in Basic occupations.

Meanwhile, 3.1% of Directors and managers had primary education qualifications or lower and 12.2% had only completed the first stage of secondary education or similar.

Among the leading cities, Pozuelo de Alarcón (63.9%), Boadilla del Monte (62.0%) and Sant Cugat del Vallès (61.3%) had the biggest proportions of ‘high-level’ occupations (Directors/managersand Middle or higher-level technical professionals).

For its part, El Ejido, Lorca and Roquetas de Mar, with 37.6%, 29.2% and 26.2%, respectively, had the largest percentages of basic occupations.

The data published today are final. All results are available on INEbase.