Catalonia gained 1.7 million inhabitants in a quarter of a century, from 6.2 million to more than 8. In the European context, only four of the 27 EU countries experienced a higher growth rate. Of the 20 million citizens that the community club has gained during this period, one in ten resides in Catalonia.
As has often been explained, the demographic jump is mainly due to the arrival of people from other countries, who today represent 25% of Catalans and who have mainly settled in the metropolitan area and in coastal areas. Its presence, however, did not prevent the aging of the population – the average age rose from 40.6 to 43.7 years – nor the depopulation of microcities: nearly 200 lost inhabitants.
Thanks to the newly arrived population and despite the sustained decline in the birth rate, Catalonia has gained almost 30% of inhabitants in 25 years, and projections from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) indicate that the population will continue to grow: it will increase by 541,000 people in the next 10 years to reach 8.55 million inhabitants, or 6.8% more than today. And this, despite the fact that natural growth will continue to be negative (-113,000 people), that is to say that there will be more deaths than births. Once again, it will be immigrants who will grow the population, with net migration estimated at 654,000 people in the next decade.
European context
Catalonia experienced population growth much higher than that of the EU, at 4.9%. The community club has grown from 430 to 450 million inhabitants over the last quarter of a century and, in round figures, one in ten new inhabitants resides in Catalonia. In fact, only four of the 27 member countries of the European Union have a population growth rate higher than that of Catalonia: Luxembourg (55.3%), Malta (47.2%), Cyprus (43.3%) and Ireland (41.4%).
Catalonia is above the Spanish increase (20.3%) and also above all the large countries of the Union, such as France (12.5%), Italy (3.6%) or Germany (1.6%). A dozen states even suffered a loss of inhabitants, all located in the Balkans or Eastern Europe.
Metropolitan and coastal growth
In general, the population has increased especially in the most metropolitan and coastal regions and municipalities, with a few exceptions. In reality, only three regions have lost inhabitants compared to the year 2000: Terra Alta (-6.1%), Ripollès (-1.1%) and Les Garrigues (-1%).
The greatest growth is concentrated in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, topping the list Barcelona, which gained more than a quarter of a million inhabitants and now has 2.35 million; Vallès Occidental also gained 242,000 inhabitants, which represents an even greater percentage of growth (34%) and places it in second place among the most populated regions, with more than 960,000 inhabitants; Baix Llobregat is also experiencing significant growth (+25%), by more than 170,000 people, for a total of 848,000. And Maresme and Vallès Oriental are gaining even more population – in relative terms – with 37% and 38% more inhabitants respectively, with today 472,572 inhabitants in Maresme and 426,653 in Vallès Oriental.
These are the regions that have gained the most: seven of the “new” municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants come from Maresme (Premià de Mar, Montgat, Alella and Argentona, among others); five, in the Vallès Oriental (Lliçà d’Amunt, Roca del Vallès or Bigues i Riells); four, in Baix Llobregat (Abrera, Vallirana, Corbera and Pallejà); and four others in Baix Empordà (La Bisbal d’Empordà, Platja d’Aro, Calonge i Sant Antoni and Torroella de Montgrí).
Other coastal towns that 25 years ago were not part of the group of medium-sized municipalities and which have experienced spectacular growth, almost tripling their population, are Cunit (Baix Penedès), which went from less than 6,000 inhabitants to 16,304, and Cubelles (Garraf), from 6,500 to 17,600.
And outside the metropolitan and coastal area, some municipalities stand out which have doubled their population, such as Alcarràs, in Segrià, which went from 4,700 to 10,500 inhabitants; Piera, in Anoia, from 8,500 to 17,800 inhabitants; or Masquefa, also in Anoia, from 4,500 to 10,100.
In Catalonia, there is only one municipality with more than 10,000 inhabitants whose population has decreased during this period. This is Badia del Vallès (Western Vallès), which lost 16% of its inhabitants and went from 15,500 inhabitants to 13,000.
40% of microcities lose neighbors
The other side of the coin are the small municipalities, up to 1,000 inhabitants, also called microcities, which symbolize depopulation: they represent 88% of all Catalan municipalities which have lost population in 25 years, or 194 out of 219. This figure, the 194 microcities which have lost neighbors, represents 40% of the total microcities.
Joan Solà, mayor of Riner (Solsonès) and president of the Association of Microcities of Catalonia, explains to the ACN how depopulation has caused many places to lose basic services such as the municipal school, health care or small businesses. A situation which “can hardly attract new families or make the population want to stay”. To reverse the trend, he suggests “carrying out without complexes” initiatives such as “multi-service” to guarantee “the most basic services” throughout the territory.
The country’s demographic evolution over the last quarter of a century is also marked by aging, due to a combination of factors such as the decline in the birth rate, the increase in life expectancy and the arrival at advanced ages of the baby boom generation.
In this sense, the average age of the population has increased by three years, from 40.6 to 43.7 years, and residents aged 65 or over have increased by two points and are already on the verge of representing one in five Catalans (20%). On the contrary, children and young people aged 0-14 are at an all-time low, at 13%, and those aged 15-29 have fallen five points and now represent less than 20% of the total, which has never happened before.
Thus, since 2001, the population pyramid of Catalonia has been transformed, since then it has a shape similar to that of a Christmas tree, with a significant weight of the baby boom generations and a sharp fall in the birth rate from the 1980s. Now the shape begins to resemble a diamond, with the older generations moving forward in the pyramid and the younger sections becoming narrower.
By region, progressive aging is also a reality, since a quarter of a century ago, five regions had more than a quarter of the population aged 65 or over and today there are eight: Terra Alta, Priorat, Ripollès, Ribera d’Ebre, Les Garrigues, Pallars Jussà, Berguedà and Lluçanès.
18% of residents have a foreign nationality
Regarding the population of foreign nationality, the increase has also been notable, but not as much, since a large part of those born abroad and residing in Catalonia have acquired Spanish nationality or already had it. In this sense, if in 2001 a little less than 5% of citizens had a foreign nationality, today this percentage is 18%.
By community, the nationalities which have progressed the most in a quarter of a century are those of the rest of the EU (from 15.5% to 21.5% of people of foreign nationality) and those of Asia and Oceania (from 7.5% to 13.6% of foreigners).
However, the largest communities remain those of South American nationalities (although they have decreased from 30% to 23%) and African nationalities (although they have decreased from 33% to 23%). People of European nationality outside the EU represent 9.3% of the foreign group, and those from North and Central America, in last place, 9.09%. Often explained, foreign-born people have made a significant jump in their representation within society.
In fact, in January 2025, they reached the threshold of 25% residents for the first time, meaning that one in four Catalans was born abroad. 25 years ago, they represented only 5% of the population, so this percentage has increased fivefold. The first major increase occurred in the first decade of the century and later stabilized due to the economic crisis. It was not until well into the second half of the 1910s that foreign arrivals increased again, and this with more intensity after the covid parenthesis of 2020 and 2021.
Currently, in certain age groups the percentage of people born abroad is particularly high, as in the case of people between 30 and 40 years old, where the foreign population exceeds 47% (48.8% between 30 and 34 years old).
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