Foreign-born population surpasses 25% of Catalonia's residents for first time

Catalonia is now home to over 2 million foreign-born residents, slightly more than 25% of the region’s population, according to data released on Thursday by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE).

This marks the first time that more than a quarter of Catalonia’s population was born abroad, representing 25.1% of the 8,124,368 total residents.

Among foreign-born individuals, those aged between 25 and 40 make up 45% of their age group.

Between January and April 2025, Catalonia welcomed 14,556 new foreign-born residents, while the number of Spanish-born residents fell by nearly 10,000, the INE reported.

Catalonia's total population grew by 1% compared to the previous year, according to the same source. This data is consistent with figures published a day earlier by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat).

Idescat data shows a 5% increase in foreign-born residents, rising from 1.93 million to 2.04 million between April 2024 and April 2025. Relative to the total population, this represents a one percentage point increase, from 24.1% to 25.1%.

27% of foreign-born residents in Girona

Barcelona is home to 1.5 million foreign-born nationals, although they just represent 25% of the overall population.

The northern province of Girona has 226,417 inhabitants born outside of Spain, who represent 27% of the area's population. In fact, Girona city is home to a large international community focused on cycling and is considered a cycling mecca.

Meanwhile, Tarragona in the south has 208,819 registered foreign-born nationals, representing 23.8% of its population, and Lleida has 112,893, representing 24.6%.