Population of Spain increases after a drop last year due to Covid

National Statistics Institute (INE) figures show that the population of Spain has risen due to the number of immigrants depsite a considerable number of Spaniards emigrating.

Spain had inhabitants numbering 47,435,597 people on January 1, 2022, 50,490 more (0.1 per cent) than on the same date in 2021, according to the advance of the Continuous Census Statistics published on Thursday, April 21, by the INE. 

Of the total number of inhabitants, 41,923,039 have Spanish nationality (88.4 per cent) and 5,512,558 are foreigners. 

The immigrant population represents 11.6 per cent of the total registered population in Spain on January 1, 2022, one tenth more than at the beginning of 2021 and the highest figure since 2013. 

Despite the population increase, Spain has not yet recovered pre-pandemic levels, when it had 47,450,795 million inhabitants.

 “We are beginning the post-pandemic phase, so that the recovery of the birth rate will be marked by the recovery of the economy and the labor market.

“It remains to be seen whether in the coming years we will see sustained growth of the economy, expansion of the labor market, a new wave of immigration, etc,”  Carlos Ferrás, demographer and professor of Human Geography at the University of Santiago de Compostela, told ABC.

INE figures show that Romanian and Chinese nationals have left the country though their numbers were less than incoming Colombians and Italians.

Figures for 2021 show that the regions with the highest concentration of foreigners are the Balearic Islands (with 18.8 per cent), Catalonia (16.2  per cen) and the Valencian Community (15.3 per cent). .

British nationals make up the fourth largest group of foreigners with 290,372 people.

The second and third largest groupings are from Colombia (312,915) and Romania (623,097).

Moroccans top the list with 879,943.

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