Barcelona has reached 1.7 million registered residents for the first time since 1990. According to the most recent registration data published by the Municipal Data Office of the council, the city already had 1,701,891 inhabitants on August 1, 2023.
The number of residents in the Catalan capital skyrocketed during the first seven months of the year by more than 40,000 new inhabitants, a higher rate of growth than in the previous six years, in which the population increase was around 35,000 people.
About half of the new residents are between 25 and 39 years old, and around 85% of new residents are foreigners. In fact, for the first time, people of foreign nationality now make up more than a quarter of Barcelona's population.
The population of the municipality as of January 1, 2023 was 1,660,435 people and, between that time and August 1, the figure increased by 41,456 inhabitants.
According to data from the City Council's Statistics Department, the last year in which the city had more than 1.7 million inhabitants was 1990 (1,707,286). At that time, Barcelona was losing inhabitants since it hit its historical peak in 1979, with 1,906,998 residents.
The majority of new registrants are of nationalities from outside the EU. The population increase is observed above all in the age groups between 25 and 39 years old, with 20,474 new registered residents, 49.4% of the total increase.
Specifically, the group between 30 and 34 years old is the one that increases the most, with 8,025 people. Most ages increase in number, except for some older ages and children from 0 to 4 years old, which remain stable throughout 2023.
