Spain is nearing 50 million inhabitants. According to the latest Continuous Population Statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the population increased by 81,520 people during the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching 49,570,725 inhabitants as of January 1, 2026. This increase, which consolidates the upward trend of recent decades, is not the result of an unexpected surge in the birth rate—which continues its sharp decline—but rather of migration. This latest census marks a historic milestone: Spain has surpassed 10 million foreign-born residents for the first time.
One in five residents was not born in Spain. In fact, in a press release, the INE (National Institute of Statistics) highlights that, in the last quarter, “Spain’s population growth was due to the increase in foreign-born residents, as the number of those born in Spain decreased.” Specifically, the number of foreign residents increased by 56,431 during the quarter, reaching 7,243,561, while the Spanish population grew by 25,089 (to 42,327,164).
This latest INE census is still provisional, so the data is not complete, and therefore all migration figures for January 1, 2026, are not yet available. The most recent available and definitive data is that compiled as of January 1, 2025. At that time, the number of foreign-born residents was already approaching 10 million, a figure that has doubled in less than 20 years. In 2007, the number of foreign-born inhabitants was 5,200,061 people, and it has continued to grow ever since.
