The data available at the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show that the population of foreign origin in Spain is at historic peaks.
According to these files, They represent 17.1% of the censusThis comes at a time when concerns about immigration have doubled and are already the number one national problem for Spaniards, according to the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS).
With 30.4%, the Immigration is more of a concern than other political or current affairs of the national point of view. However, when asked about the greatest personal problem, he drops to fifth position and the economic crisis, health, quality of employment and housing emerge in that order.
In recent years, Spain has experienced a massive influx of immigrants. If we are in 2003, they constituted 7.7% of the census in 2023 -20 years later- they are 17.1%. The upward trend is general, with the exception of the period between 2012 and 2016, when the arrival of people of other nationalities was lower, according to INE data.
Population in Spain born in other countries
Morocco, Colombia, Romania or Venezuela are the main nationalities of people in Spain but born outside our borders. However, although there are generic national figures for the whole country, not all communities have the same distribution of the foreign population. Below you can see the distribution of the foreign population on the map.
The foreign population in Catalonia
While the provinces of Extremadura and the interior of Andalusia have lower percentages, others such as Madrid or Catalonia or the peninsular east coast has more. The distribution is uneven, as is the dominant foreign community. Here is the distribution in Catalonia:
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Barcelona: 22.3% (Main countries: Morocco, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru)
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Girona: 25.3% (Main countries: Morocco, Honduras, Romania, Colombia and Gambia)
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Lérida: 22.1% (Main countries: Morocco, Romania, Colombia, Senegal, Ukraine)
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Tarragona: 21.2% (Main countries: Morocco, Romania, Colombia, Argentina, Ukraine)
Thus, as the INE data show, Girona is the Catalan province with the highest percentage of foreign citizens residing in the territory.
At the national level, the Balearic Islands and Alicante also have more than 25% of the population born outside Spain. Morocco is the majority foreign community in 23 of the 50 provinces, in addition to Ceuta and Melilla.
