ANDALUCIA is closing in on a population of nine million after a record-breaking influx of people born abroad sent its population soaring.
The region had 8.78 million inhabitants on July 1, according to the latest figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) – the highest figure ever recorded.
That is nearly 70,000 more than a year earlier, with the population growing by another 8,700 during the second quarter of 2026 alone.
The boom is driven almost entirely by foreign-born residents, whose numbers climbed by 9,000 during the three-month period to reach a record 1.25 million.
That figure is significantly higher than the number of foreign nationals living in the region, which also hit a record 987,000.
The gap is largely made up of people who were born abroad but have since obtained Spanish citizenship.
Meanwhile, the number of people born in Spain and living in Andalucia actually fell by 382 during the quarter.
Sevilla saw the biggest population boom, adding 2,800 residents to surpass two million and cement its position as Andalucia’s most populous province.
READ MORE: Spain on brink of 50-million population milestone – with one in five residents now born abroad
Almeria followed with an increase of 2,500 people, while Malaga added 2,000. Granada gained 1,400 residents, followed by Jaen with 430 and Cadiz with 420.
Only Cordoba and Huelva bucked the trend, with their populations falling by 983 and one resident respectively.
The impact of foreign migration is particularly striking in Almeria, where more than one in four residents were born outside Spain.
A total of 210,000 people – or 26.5% of the province’s population – were born abroad.
Malaga follows closely behind, with 460,000 foreign-born residents accounting for 25% of its population.
The proportion drops sharply in Seville, where 180,000 residents – around 9% of the population – were born outside Spain.
Jaen and Cordoba have the lowest proportions in Andalucia, at around 6%.
Andalucia’s population boom mirrors a wider trend across Spain, where the number of residents also hit a record high of almost 49.8 million in July.
The national population grew by more than 104,000 during the second quarter, with people born abroad once again accounting for virtually all of the increase.
The latest figures underline how dramatically migration is reshaping Spain’s population – and pushing Andalucia ever closer to the nine-million mark.
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