New migration data has shown that the number of foreigners living in Spain with residency permits has grown again, breaking 7.4 million and increasing year-on-year.
The number of foreigners legally resident in Spain has topped 7.4 million, new migration data has revealed.
A total of 7,426,481 foreign nationals now have residence permits in Spain, 4.5 percent more than a year ago. Of these, 54 percent are European citizens.
The figures, which come from Spain’s Permanent Immigration Observatory (OPI), were released on Tuesday in a statement by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
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Of the total number of migrants with a residence permit in Spain, 54 percent hold a certificate of registration as a citizen of the European Union (EU) or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) or a Foreigners’ Identity Card (TIE) under the Withdrawal Agreement for UK nationals after Brexit, 1.5 percent (60,011 people) more than in September 2024.
The most representative nationalities in this group are Romanian, Italian and British, which together account for more than half (51 percent) of people with valid residence permits from the EU/EFTA and U.K.
Authorisations for non-European foreigners have grown by 47.4 percent in five years.
On the other hand, there are 3,418,133 non-EU migrants with residence permits, which is 8.3 percent more than last year.
Over the last five years, this group has experienced cumulative growth of 47.4 percent, largely due to the granting of more than 236,000 residence permits to Ukrainian nationals following the Russian invasion.
Large numbers of Latin-American migrants have also arrived in Spain in the post-pandemic period.
In terms of sociodemographic profiles, the foreign nationals with residency permits or TIE have an average age of 44.
However, there are differences in age and gender depending on the country. The U.K, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are the countries with the highest average age, at 57, 53, 50 and 49 years, respectively.
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In the case of the non-EU foreign population with residence permits, the average age is 37 years and there is a slight predominance of men (53 percent) over women (47 percent).
The OPI has also published a report on residence permits granted for study purposes.
According to the analysis of the latest available data, from September 2025, a total of 56,327 people have valid residence permits as students and family members, representing an increase of 8.6 percent (4,443 more people) compared to last year.
Students account for 97 percent (54,589), while only the remaining 3 percent (1,738) correspond to their family members.
The most common nationalities of students are Colombian, with 7,041 people (14 percent), followed by Peruvian, with 5,514 (10 percent), Moroccan, with 4,473 (8 percent), and Chinese, with 3,565 people (6 percent).
The rising immigrant population in Spain comes at a time when migration has become a politically polarising issue not only in Spain but around the world.
Spain’s governing Socialists (PSOE) make the pro-immigration case, arguing it supports economic growth, whereas the Spanish right, likely the next government, has outlined a series of proposed migration measures should it come to power.
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