Demographics of Spain

Notable events in modern Spanish demography:

• Late 19th century and early 20th century: Relative economic stagnation and mass emigration to American countries.
• 1918. Flu pandemic, over 200,000 dead in Spain.
• 1936. Start of the Spanish Civil War.
• 1939. End of the Civil War. Establishment of a dictatorship, Start of rationing policies. Deepening of economic depression, mass emigration to European and American countries due to economic and political motives (Republican exile).
• 1941. Approval of benefits for large families, with at least four children.[5]
• 1945. Establishment of tax deductions for parents.[6]
• 1952. End of rationing policies.
• 1975. End of the dictatorship, mass return of emigrated people.
• 1977. Legalization of contraception. Decline of birth rates.
• 1985. Legalization of abortion.
• 1988. After centuries of outwards emigration, the first events of illegal immigration from Africa occur.[7]
• 1991. Spain becomes a net receiver of immigrants, after decades of mass emigration.[8]
• 1994. Lowering of threshold of requirements to become a large family, only three children needed.[5]
• 2007. Approval of €2,500 benefit for births.
• 2010. Legalization of elective abortion.
• 2011. Withdrawal of the €2,500 benefit for births.
• 2015. First negative natural change since the Civil War due to the aging of Spanish population.

The population of Spain doubled during the twentieth century as a result of the demographic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s. After that time, the birth rate fell during the 1980s and Spain's population became stalled.

Many demographers have linked Spain's very low fertility rate to the country's lack of a family support policy. Spain spends the least on family support out of all western European countries—0.5% of GDP. A graphic illustration of the enormous social gulf in this field is the fact that a Spanish family would need to have 57 children to enjoy the same financial support as a family with 3 children in Luxembourg.

During the early 2000s, the mean year-on-year demographic growth set a new record with its 2003 peak variation of 2.1%, doubling the previous record reached back in the 1960s when a mean year-on-year growth of 1% was experienced.[9] In 2005 alone, the immigrant population of Spain increased by 700,000 people.[10]

The arrival of migrating young adults was the main reason for the slight increase in Spain's fertility rate.[11] From 2002 through 2008 the Spanish population grew by 8%, of which 7% were foreign.[12]

The following demographic statistics are from the World Population Review in 2019.[13]

• One birth every minute
• One death every minute
• Net gain of one person every 131 minutes
• One net migrant every 13 minutes

Note: Crude migration change (per 1000) is a trend analysis, an extrapolation based average population change (current year minus previous) minus natural change of the current year (see table vital statistics). As average population is an estimate of the population in the middle of the year and not end of the year.

Population growth

Birth and death rates and natural changes of Spain in 1950–2012.

Population growth rate

-0.03% (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 143rd

0.78% (2017 est.)

Life expectancy

1882-1950

Years	1882	1892	1900	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920[14]
Life expectancy in Spain	29.5	32.1	34.8	41.3	41.0	40.8	39.7	43.4	42.5	42.8	43.0	42.9	42.5	30.3	41.1	39.2

Years	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930[14]
Life expectancy in Spain	42.0	44.1	44.7	46.2	46.9	47.7	48.4	48.6	49.3	49.3

Years	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940[14]
Life expectancy in Spain	49.2	51.1	51.5	52.3	52.6	51.0	47.3	47.6	47.2	48.4

Years	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950[14]
Life expectancy in Spain	47.2	52.5	54.8	56.2	57.8	57.5	59.3	61.2	61.0	61.8

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

Life expectancy in Spain since 1882

Life expectancy in Spain since 1960 by gender

1950-2015

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	64.6	1985–1990	76.9
1955–1960	67.8	1990–1995	77.6
1960–1965	69.9	1995–2000	78.8
1965–1970	71.4	2000–2005	79.9
1970–1975	72.7	2005–2010	81.2
1975–1980	74.4	2010–2015	82.5
1980–1985	76.1

Source: UN World Population Prospects[15]

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 82.21 years. Country comparison to the world: 29nd

male: 79.22 years

female: 85.39 years (2021 est.)

Infant mortality rate

3.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.). Country comparison to the world: 216th

Crude death rate

9.78 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 55th

Fertility

TFR of Spain overtime to 2016

Spain total fertility rate by province (2014)

1.5 - 1.7   1.4 - 1.5   1.3 - 1.4   < 1.3

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[16]

Years	1850	1851	1852	1853	1854	1855	1856	1857	1858	1859	1860[16]
Total Fertility Rate in Spain	5.13	5.07	5.01	4.95	4.89	4.83	4.78	4.72	4.66	4.75	4.86

Years	1861	1862	1863	1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869	1870[16]
Total Fertility Rate in Spain	5.16	5.09	5	5.19	5.11	5.07	5.09	4.72	4.9	4.84

Years	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880[16]
Total Fertility Rate in Spain	4.83	4.83	4.82	4.81	4.8	4.79	4.78	4.78	4.74	4.7

Years	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890[16]
Total Fertility Rate in Spain	4.91	4.79	4.71	4.86	4.8	4.86	4.78	4.82	4.82	4.55

Years	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899[16]
Total Fertility Rate in Spain	4.67	4.71	4.71	4.6	4.63	4.75	4.51	4.41	4.53

Crude birth rate

8.05 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 212th

Total fertility rate

1.51 children born/woman (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 207th

Mother's mean age at first birth

30.9 years (2017 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 15.02% (male 3,861,522/female 3,650,085)
15-24 years: 9.9% (male 2,557,504/female 2,392,498)
25-54 years: 43.61% (male 11,134,006/female 10,675,873)
55-64 years: 12.99% (male 3,177,080/female 3,319,823)
65 years and over: 18.49% (male 3,970,417/female 5,276,984) (2020 est.)

Median age:

total: 43.9 years. Country comparison to the world: 21st

male: 42.7 years

female: 45.1 years (2020 est.)

Demographic evolution of Spain 1950-2014

Demographic evolution by age, sex and country of birth (Spain, Foreign) 2002-2021

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

total: 34.3%. Country comparison to the world: 24th

male: 35.2%

female: 33.3% (2018 est.)

Catalan people in Barcelona in 2019

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, generically recognises contemporary entities—nationalities and regions—[lower-alpha 2] within the context of the Spanish nation.

Spain has been described as a de facto plurinational state.[24][25] The identity of Spain rather accrues of an overlap of different territorial and ethnolinguistic identities than of a sole Spanish identity. In some cases some of the territorial identities may conflict with the dominant Spanish culture. Distinct traditional identities within Spain include the Basques, Catalans, Galicians, Andalusians and Valencians,[26] although to some extent all of the 17 autonomous communities may claim a distinct local identity. Definition of ethnicity or nationality in Spain is fraught politically. The term "Spanish people" (pueblo español) is defined in the 1978 constitution as the political sovereign, i.e. the citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. The same constitution in its preamble speaks of "peoples and nationalities of Spain" (pueblos y nacionalidades de España) and their respective cultures, traditions, languages and institutions. The formerly nomadic Gitanos and Mercheros are distinctly marked by endogamy and discrimination but they are dispersed through the country.

The native Canarians are partly the descendants of the North African population of the Canary Islands prior to Spanish colonization in the 15th century although many Spaniards have varying levels of North African admixture as a result of the Islamic period. Also included are many Spanish citizens who are descendants of people from Spain's former colonies, mostly from Venezuela, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Morocco and Cuba. There is also a sizable number of Spaniards of Eastern European, Maghrebian, Sub Saharan-African, Indian subcontinent and Middle Eastern descent.[27]

The arrival of the gitanos (Spanish for "gypsies"), a Romani people, began in the 16th century; estimates of the Spanish Roma population range from 750,000 to over one million.[28][29][30][31][32] There are also the mercheros (also called quinquis), a formerly nomadic minority group. Their origin is unclear.

Historically, Sephardic Jews and Moriscos are the main minority groups originating in Spain and with a contribution to Spanish culture.[33] The Spanish government is offering Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews.[34]

In terms of emigration vs. immigration, after decades of net emigration after the Spanish Civil War, Spain has experienced massive large-scale immigration for the first time in modern history over the past 30 years. As of 2020, there were 7,231,195 foreign-born people in Spain, making up to 15.23% of the Spanish population including 5,015,263 (10.57%) born in a non-European country.[35] Of these, 5,434,153 (11.45%) didn't have the Spanish citizenship.[36][37] This makes Spain one of the world's preferred destinations to immigrate to, being the 4th country in Europe by immigration numbers and the 10th worldwide. Of these, more than 860,000 were Romanian, and 760,000 were Moroccan while the number of Ecuadorians was around 390,000. Colombian population amounted to around 300,000. There are also a significant number of British (359,076 as of 2011, but more than one million are estimated to live permanently in Spain) and German (195,842) citizens, mainly in Alicante, Málaga provinces, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands. The largest Asian immigrant group, the Chinese, number slightly over 166,000. Immigrants from several sub-Saharan African countries have also settled in Spain as contract workers, representing 4.08% of all the foreign residents in the country.

Population by country of birth as of 2022:[38]

Country	Population
Morocco	984,682
Colombia	568,034
Romania	539,418
Venezuela	440,992
Ecuador	420,573
Argentina	328,333
United Kingdom	300,306
Peru	265,949
France	215,174
China	199,341
Dominican Republic	190,478
Bolivia	179,829
Cuba	176,800
Germany	170,621
Brazil	156,540
Honduras	150,643
Italy	145,676
Ukraine	116,242
Paraguay	110,321
Pakistan	108,710
Bulgaria	106,134
Russia	99,459
Portugal	93,621
Senegal	87,730
Uruguay	83,773
Algeria	70,837
Nicaragua	69,508
Mexico	66,304
Chile	65,002
Switzerland	61,449
USA	60,383
India	57,692
Philippines	53,457
Belgium	50,249
Poland	48,799
Nigeria	34,268
Mali	31,118
Salvador	29,947
Moldova	23,783

Foreign population

Percentage of people of foreign origin over two generations under the age of 15 in Spain

As of 2022, Spain had a foreign population of 5,542,932.[39][40] The largest groups of foreigners were those of Moroccan, Romanian, British, Chinese and Italian citizenship.[39] Meanwhile, Spain had a foreign-born population of 6,742,948, being those born in the Americas the largest group, and Europe being the second most common continent of origin after South America.[41]

Foreign Population by Nationality[42]	Number	%
2022
TOTAL FOREIGNERS	5,542,932
EUROPE	2,205,961
EUROPEAN UNION	1,617,911
OTHER EUROPE	588,050
AFRICA	1,217,706
SOUTH AMERICA	1,173,900
CENTRAL AMERICA	368,461
NORTH AMERICA	76,628
ASIA	493,065
OCEANIA	3,580
Instituto Nacional de Estadística

Country of birth in Spain

Resident Population groups	Year
	2002[43]		2004[43]		2006[43]		2008[43][44]		2010[43]		2012[43]		2014[43]		2016[43]		2018[43]		2020[43]		2022[43][45]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Spaniards	39,297,299	95.76%	38,999,785	91.66%	39,371,997	89.46%	39,790,019	87.12%	40,206,557	86.49%	40,523,263	86.55%	40,553,891	87.18%	40,521,758	87.25%	40,459,614	86.74%	40,335,789	85.22%	40,067,582	84.47%
Foreigners	1,737,972	4.24%	3,547,669	8.34%	4,637,972	10.54%	5,878,919	12.88%	6,280,064	13.51%	6,294,953	13.45%	5,958,308	12.82%	5,918,341	12.75%	6,198,833	13.26%	6,996,825	14.78%	7,365,311	15.53%
Total	41,035,271	100%	42,547,454	100%	44,009,969	100%	45,668,938	100%	46,486,621	100%	46,818,216	100%	46,512,199	100%	46,440,099	100%	46,658,447	100%	47,332,614	100%	47,432,893	100%

Proportion of people in Spain who were born in Spain

Evolution of immigrated population every two years

Year	Total	Percentage
2002	1,737,972	4.24
2004	3,547,669	8.34
2006	4,637,972	10.54
2008	5,878,919	12.88
2010	6,280,064	13.51
2012	6,294,953	13.45
2014	5,958,308	12.82
2016	5,918,341	12.75
2018	6,198,833	13.26
2020	6,996,825	14.78
2022	7,365,311	15.53

The Reconquista was the long process by which the Catholics reconquered Spain from Islamic rule by 1492. The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 to complete the religious orthodoxy of the Iberian Peninsula. In the centuries that followed, Spain saw itself as the bulwark of Catholicism and doctrinal purity; since then, Catholicism has been the main religion in Spain.[47][48]

Spanish missionaries carried Catholicism to the Americas and the Philippines, establishing various missions in the newly colonized lands. The missions served as a base for both administering colonies as well as spreading Christianity.[49][50][51]

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 abolished Catholicism as the official state religion, but recognizing the role it plays in Spanish society.[52] From the end of the Francoist dictatorship to the present day, a secularization process has taken place that has meant a progressive decrease in religious practice, in the attendance at the different religious rites (baptisms, communions and Catholic marriages) and in the percentage of Spaniards who identify as Catholic,[53] Consequently, a majority of Spaniards today ignore Catholic doctrines on matters such as pre-marital sex, homosexuality and contraception.[54][55] Despite the drop, Catholic identity nevertheless remains an important part of Spain's culture.[53]

As of 2018, 68.5% of the population define themselves as Catholic, 26.4% as non-believers or atheists, and 2.6% other religions according to the official Spanish Center for Sociological Research.[56] Among believers, 59% assert they almost never go to any religious service, by contrast, 16.3% attend one or more religious service almost every week.[56][57]

There have been three Popes from what is now Spain, all of them from the Crown of Aragon: Calixtus III, Alexander VI and Benedict XIII. Spanish mysticism provided an important intellectual resource against Protestantism with Carmelites like Teresa of Ávila, a reformist nun and John of the Cross, a priest, taking the lead in their reform movement. Later, they became Doctors of the Church. The Society of Jesus was co-founded by Ignatius of Loyola, whose Spiritual Exercises and movement led to the establishment of hundreds of colleges and universities in the world, including 28 in the United States alone. The Society's co-founder, Francis Xavier, was a missionary who reached India and later Japan. In the 1960s, Jesuits Pedro Arrupe and Ignacio Ellacuría supported the movement of Liberation Theology.

A study made by the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain demonstrated that there were about 1,700,000 inhabitants of Muslim background living in Spain as of 2012, accounting for 3–4% of the total population of Spain. The vast majority was composed of immigrants and descendants originating from Morocco and other African countries. More than 514,000 (30%) of them had Spanish nationality.[58] The recent waves of immigration have also led to an increasing number of Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus. After the Reconquista in 1492, Muslims did not live in Spain for centuries. Their ranks have since been bolstered by recent immigration, especially from Morocco and Algeria. Judaism was practically non-existent in Spain from the 1492 expulsion until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to enter the country. Currently there are around 62,000 Jews in Spain, or 0.14% of the total population. Most are arrivals in the past century, while some are descendants of earlier Spanish Jews. Approximately 80,000 Jews are thought to have lived in Spain prior to its expulsion.[59] However the Jewish Encyclopedia states the number over 800,000 to be too large and 235,000 as too small: 165,000 is given as expelled as possibly too small in favour of 200,000, and the numbers of converts after the 1391 pogroms as less. Other sources suggest 200,000 converts mostly after the pogroms of 1391 and upwards of 100,000 expelled. Descendants of these Sephardic Jews expelled in 1492 are given Spanish nationality if they request it.[60]

• Spanish 99% (88% mother tongue[61]) (official nationwide)
• Catalan 16%[62] (9% mother tongue[61]) (co-official in Catalonia, Balearic Islands, and Valencia — see Valencian)
• Galician 7% (5% mother tongue[61]) (co-official in Galicia)
• Basque 1.6% (1% mother tongue[61]) (co-official in Basque Country and designated areas in Navarre).
• Aranese (a variant of Gascon Occitan) is co-official in Val d'Aran, a small valley in the Pyrenees.

Others with no official status:

• Asturian-Leonese (in the former Kingdom of León and Asturias)
• Aragonese (in the province of Huesca, Aragon)
• Arabic (in the autonomous city of Ceuta)
• Tarifit (in the autonomous city of Melilla)

About 70% of Spain's students in non-university education attend public schools,[63] whereas 79,1% of students in higher education are enrolled at public universities.[64] The remainder attend private schools or universities, many of which are operated by the Catholic Church.[65]

Compulsory education begins with primary school or general basic education for ages 6–16. It is free in public schools and in many private schools, most of which receive government subsidies. Following graduation, students attend either a secondary school offering a general high school diploma or a school of professional study in all fields – law, sciences, humanities, and medicine – and the technical schools offer programs in engineering and architecture.

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