The Diplomat
The Spanish population has once again reached a new all-time high, reaching 48,446,594 million inhabitants, after growing during the third quarter of 2023 by 118,667 people, according to the provisional data of the Continuous Population Statistics (ECP) corresponding to 1 October 2023, from the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Furthermore, according to the INE, between October 2023 and October 2022 the population of Spain has increased by 1.10% (525,075 people) and has been growing at interannual rates of over 1% for five quarters.
Spain’s population growth was “almost entirely” due to the increase in the number of people born abroad. In total, there are 42 million Spaniards, 41,651 more people. Those born in Spain total 39.8 million and are down slightly, by 29 people. In contrast, there are 8.5 million foreign-born, 118,696 more people. The foreign-born outnumber the foreign-born, who number 6.3 million and still reach a new high, and increase by 77,016 persons.
The INE points out that the fact that there are more foreign-born people than foreigners is due to the processes of acquiring Spanish nationality. It should be remembered that since 21 October last year, the Law of Democratic Memory has been in force, which also grants the right to nationality to people born outside Spain to fathers or mothers, grandmothers or grandfathers, exiled for political, ideological or religious reasons, or for reasons of sexual orientation or identity, as well as to those born to Spanish women who lost their nationality because they married foreigners before the 1978 Constitution came into force. It can also be applied for by the adult sons and daughters of Spaniards whose nationality of origin was recognised by virtue of the 2007 law or who are recognised in application of the current law.
The population in Spain grew in all the Autonomous Communities, as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The largest increases in relative terms were in the Balearic Islands (0.45%), Comunidad Valenciana (0.45%) and Comunidad de Madrid (0.42%).
On the other hand, the number of households stood at 19.2 million on 1 October 2023, with an increase of 58,742 during the third quarter, registering the highest in the series. The main nationalities of immigrants arriving in Spain during the third quarter were Colombian (34,000), Moroccan (24,400) and Spanish (23,600). On the other hand, the most numerous nationalities of emigrants were Spanish (with 9,600 departures), Moroccan (5,600) and Romanian (4,500).
