ACCORDING to the latest census data, over a third of Spain’s 9.5 million registered foreign residents arrived in the past four years.
Figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal that 3.5 million foreign-born residents have settled in the country over that period.
Spain saw 2.3 million arrivals in 2023 and 2024, with a further 1.2 million settling in the country in 2025.
The figures also provide a breakdown by country of origin, highlighting which nationalities have driven the recent surge.
Colombians recorded the highest share of recent arrivals, with 34.7% of Spain’s Colombian population settling in the country in 2023 and 2024, followed by Peruvians (32.4%) and Venezuelans (31.3%).
By contrast, just 10.8% of the Bolivian population in Spain arrived over the same period, compared with 13.1% of Ecuadorians and 13.6% of those from the United Kingdom.
The data also offers insight into employment and education levels among foreign nationals.
Chinese nationals recorded the highest employment rates among those aged 16 and over (61.5% of Spain’s Chinese population), followed by Ecuadorians (56.7%) and Romanians (56.4%).
Conversely, Brits (24.0%), Colombians (32.3%) and Peruvians (34.0%) had the lowest employment rates.
When it comes to education, 25.2% of foreign nationals living in Spain have completed higher education with those born in Venezuela, France and Argentina the most likely to have university degrees.
Foreigners from Morocco, the Dominican Republic and Romania, on the other hand, registered the lowest percentages of higher education graduates.
The latest census data shows that more foreigners have chosen to make Spain home in recent years.
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