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Population. By nationality. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

Population 1 of January. By nationality. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces Catalonia
Spanish Rest of EU Rest of Europe Africa North and Central America South Amaerica Asia and Oceania Total
2023 6,539,982 302,038 126,870 325,054 123,963 296,097 187,959 7,901,963
2022 6,526,151 288,390 101,729 315,456 109,331 241,815 178,951 7,761,823
2021 6,519,592 286,384 100,431 320,034 107,043 236,634 179,778 7,749,896
2020 6,519,860 309,759 82,191 324,269 111,113 244,806 188,481 7,780,479
2019 6,515,790 294,140 77,320 304,738 96,746 212,922 173,561 7,675,217
2018 6,517,966 282,410 73,110 288,581 85,335 192,100 160,563 7,600,065
2017 6,514,468 275,288 69,998 283,745 77,401 180,949 153,981 7,555,830
2016 6,499,198 274,746 66,286 288,265 70,520 177,262 146,319 7,522,596
2015 6,480,037 280,266 62,781 290,844 67,872 185,468 140,838 7,508,106
Units: Persons.
Source:
2015-2018: Idescat. Municipal population register.
2019-2020: Idescat, based on INE Continuous Population Register.
2021: Idescat, based on the INE Population and Housing Census.
2022-2023: Idescat, based on the INE Annual Population Census.
Note: From 2021, European Union data do not include data for the United Kingdom.

Last update: February 29, 2024.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Population
All inhabitants of a given place. Since 1996, when the continuous management system was established for the Municipal Population Register, in accordance with Royal Decree 2612/1996, of December 20, official population figures for municipalities have been obtained annually using data referred to January 1 of each year.
Neighbour
Person who habitually lives in a municipality, whether present or absent on the date of reference. Acquisition of the condition of neighbour is produced as soon as that person is recorded on the civil register (padró). Those who habitually live in a municipality but are away on the date of reference are still considered neighbours of the municipality they usually live in. The concept of a neighbour substitutes the concepts of a present resident and absent resident in a municipality in accordance with Royal Decree 2612/1996, of December 20, which modified the Regulation for the population and territorial demarcation of local entities on July 11, 1986. The figure of the person in transit has also been eliminated.

Methodological aspects

The basic on information population by nationality and place of birth, as well as the population of the municipalities, is obtained from the Municipal Population Register.

The Municipal population register is the administrative record containing the residents of a given municipality and it constitutes proof that they reside in the municipality and have their usual home there. Population figures from the revision of the Register on 1 January are declared official in each of the municipalities by the Government of Spain, by means of a Royal Decree. The exploitation of the municipal population register provides figures on the number of people registered in the population census in each municipality in Catalonia. The official figures are available by municipality and they are broken down according to sex, age, nationality and place of birth.