Spain’s population reaches record levels due to immigration

THE Spanish population has reached an all-time high at 47.1 million during the first half of 2019.

The increase, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE), is due to the increasing number of immigrants entering the country, while the number of Spaniards has reduced. 

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This is despite the fact that the number of deaths (214,218) has been greater than the amount of births (169,216).

Positive immigration coming into the country however is larger than that, as 348,625 immigrants have arrived, compared to 139,528 emigrants leaving.

The positive migration balance led to an increase of 183,073 foreigners and now according to INE data there are a total of 5,023,279 immigrants, which forms 10.67% of the population.

The areas where the population increased most was the Balearic Islands (0.87%), Madrid (0.66%) and the Canary Islands (0.61%), with Extremadura having the biggest decrease (–0.25%).

The two nationalities that had the biggest influx of immigrants were the Venezuelans (18%) and the Colombians (14%).