Barcelona reached a new demographic milestone past 2023 the total number of people registered was 1,702,814, the highest figure since 1991. This is confirmed by the census data analyzed by the Municipal Data Office of the City Council, which made the information public on June 1.
This milestone contrasts with another reality: In 2023 there were just over 11,000 births, the lowest number since 1900 (except for the Civil War year 1939). In 78 78 % of the households in Barcelona do not have any minors living in them.
More and more foreigners… and all of them with a university education
The city’s population increase, which represents 0.6% more than in 2022, is mainly due to the growth of the foreign population, which already represents one out of every four Barcelonians.
This data has an added curiosity: of all foreigners residing in Barcelona, 43.2% have higher education, a percentage that even exceeds that of the native population. This would indicate that a large part of this growth in the foreign population could be linked to the expat category, that is, immigrants who settle here not out of necessity, but by choice.
On the other hand, this increase in the foreign population occurs at the same time as the Spanish population, which has also grown by a minimum of 0.1% in 2023. This figure, although small, allows reversing the negative trend dominant since 2015.
Barcelona is home to more than a thousand centenarians
The other curious fact launched by the study is that the average age of the population stands at 44.4 years and in 78% of the homes in Barcelona no minor lives. In contrast to the low birth rate, Barcelona experienced a 10.4% increase in the number of centenarians, reaching a total of 1,007 of which the vast majority, 83.7%, are women.
More data (from the most common names given to newborns in the city to the distribution of the population by districts) can be found at the report made public by the Town Hall.