Spain keeps breaking population records, quarter after quarter. As of October 1, 2025, the country had 49,442,844 residents, according to the Continuous Population Statistics of the National Statistics Institute (INE). On paper, Spain is thriving with nearly half a million more people in a year and over 100,000 added in just three months.

Spain grows, yet Spaniards fade. Behind the headline figure lies a demographic paradox. The expansion is driven by immigration. Foreign-born residents now exceed 9.8 million, close to one-fifth of the total population. Meanwhile, the number of people born in Spain continues to shrink, dragged down by a decade-long negative natural balance. Births can no longer compensate for deaths and have not since 2017.

Foreign nationals (excluding the almost three million who have already been naturalised) number just over 7.1 million, after another quarter of strong inflows. The gap between foreign-born and foreign nationals highlights the scale of naturalisations of recent years. Each year, tens of thousands of newcomers, mostly from Latin America and the Maghreb, become Spanish citizens.

A growing population with fewer Spaniards

In 2024 alone, the population rose by over half a million, driven overwhelmingly by immigration. At the same time, the number of Spaniards fell by roughly 130,000. Spain adds inhabitants but loses nationals.

The natural balance deteriorates year after year. Spain registered 322,075 births and 461,946 deaths last year, figures that reflect a negative difference of almost 140,000—the worst on record. The population is ageing at speed, as more than 20% of Spaniards are over 65, and the baby-boom generation is entering retirement age en masse. Life expectancy, one of the highest in Europe, ensures mortality continues to rise even as fertility collapses.

And collapse it has. Spain’s fertility rate, at 1.16 children per woman, is Europe’s lowest and only marginally above South Korea’s world-record low. Late motherhood, precarious employment and unaffordable housing are the real drivers. The average age of first-time mothers is now 32.6 (the highest in the EU).

Spanish nationality, then, grows not through births but through paperwork: naturalisations and, to a lesser extent, the return of emigrants or descendants of Spaniards. More than 240,000 people became Spanish citizens last year, most of them Latin Americans.

The new face of migration in a reshaped map

Colombia leads all inflows, with more than 32,000 arrivals in the third quarter of 2025, followed closely by returnee Spaniards and Moroccans. The Latin American predominance highlights how strongly language and cultural ties still draw people to Spain. High rates of re-emigration among Spaniards, Colombians, and Moroccans show the fluidity of these movements, shaped by job markets and family networks.

The population grew across every region, though unevenly. The fastest expansion was recorded in the Valencian Community, Aragon, and Castilla-La Mancha, propelled by more accessible housing and buoyant local labour markets. Madrid and Andalusia, despite their size, grew only marginally, reflecting saturation and soaring housing costs. The demographic map is shifting inland and along the Mediterranean arc.

Households multiply while families shrink

The number of households continues to rise, now approaching 19.7 million. However, they are smaller and older. An average dwelling now houses just 2.5 people. Demand for rental properties is rising, as is pressure on prices, particularly in areas experiencing strong immigration or youth emancipation delayed by economic hardship.

One in every five people living in Spain was born abroad, a proportion comparable to Germany’s and ahead of Italy’s or France’s. ‘Diversity’ is said to support the labour market and the welfare system but forces Spain to confront questions of integration, identity, and long-term social cohesion.

Spain is expanding faster than ever. But the country that grows is less Spanish each year. A demographic model based on replacement migration fills the statistical gaps and flatters GDP projections yet does little to address the deeper crisis: a society that cannot reproduce itself, an economy that strains under ageing, and a culture increasingly unanchored.

The question, sooner rather than later, will not be whether Spain can reach 50 million inhabitants. It will be what kind of country those residents will make, and whether a Spain of 40 million would truly be worse than a Spain of 50 million without Spaniards.

The post Spain Without Spaniards: The Unprecedented Decline of the National Population appeared first on American Renaissance.