SPAIN is close to reaching the 50-million population milestone for the first time, new data shows – with more than one in five residents now born abroad.

The country’s population hit a record 49.8 million on July 1, according to figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE).

Some 10.2 million residents were born outside Spain, meaning the country’s foreign-born population now accounts for around 20.5 per cent of the total.

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Overall, the population grew by more than 104,000 people during the second quarter of the year, despite the number of people born in Spain continuing to fall.

The figures underline the growing role of immigration in Spain’s population boom, with the number of foreign-born residents now more than double what it was around two decades ago.

Colombians accounted for the largest influx during the latest quarter, with around 34,000 new residents, followed by Venezuelans with 23,300 and Moroccans with 21,100.

The number of households also hit a record high, reaching almost 19.9 million.

The population increase was particularly pronounced in the Valencian Community, which grew by 0.43 per cent during the quarter – the fastest rate of any region.

It now has almost 5.6 million residents, including around 1.46 million people born abroad.

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Spain’s population has continued to rise despite a long-running decline in births, with migration increasingly driving the country’s demographic growth.

Britons remain one of Spain’s largest foreign communities, with around 282,000 residents born in the UK – roughly 0.6 per cent of the country’s total population.

The latest INE figures, however, show that Spain’s five largest foreign nationalities are Moroccan, Colombian, Romanian, Venezuelan and Italian – with Britain ranking immediately below in sixth place.

There were around 969,000 Moroccan nationals living in Spain at the start of 2025, followed by 677,000 Colombians, 609,000 Romanians, 378,000 Venezuelans, and 346,000 Italians, INE data shows.

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