BARCELONA’s demographic is changing at record speed.
More than half of Barcelona residents aged between 25 and 44 were born abroad, according to the city’s municipal register.
This number has reached a new high, with more than 62% between 30- to 34-year-olds being born in a country other than Spain.
The data also measures the speed at which the change occurred.
The percentage of Barcelona residents being born outside of Spain was in 2000 only 7%. Two decades, later this number has grown to 52%.
In the last 20 years, Spain has integrated about 8 million new residents. As of 2026 about 2 million live in Catalonia and about 600,000 in Barcelona.
In that same time period, the city has gone from 1.5 million to 1.7 million . The metropolitan area grew from 2.9 to 3.4 million people, making it the second-highest population recorded in the city.
Among residents aged 25 to 29 years, 56.4% were born outside Spain. The figure rises to 59.7% among those aged 30 to 34, while foreign-born residents account for 54.8% of people aged 35 to 39.
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According to data by Barcelona municipality, foreign nationals now account for 26,6% of Barcelona’s population, reaching a record 460,409 residents.
When including, foreign-born residents who have acquired Spanish nationality this figure rises to 626,924 people.
The largest foreign-national groups in Barcelona include Italians, Colombians, Pakistanis, Chinese and Peruvians.
Foreign-born residents now make up a substantial part of the city’s younger adult population, while older generations remain much more likely to have been born in Spain.
Barcelona’s changing population reflects a broader transformation in the city’s demographic makeup, with international migration reshaping some of the age groups that make up a large part of its working-age population.
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