Although the Spanish population has gone from 40 million inhabitants at the beginning of the century to 48,619,695 million today, six out of every ten municipalities have not only not benefited from those ten million extra people, but have also lost population. regarding the 2001 census compared to that of 2024, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The Community of Madrid has exceeded seven million inhabitants in the last census and the province of Alicante has ousted that of Seville as the fourth most populated, only behind Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
The following map shows the population variation of each of the current Spanish municipalities, counting the censuses from 2001 to 2024, collected in INE statistics. Click on each municipality to find out the evolution of its population and when it reached its maximum population this century.
Madrid capital is the great center of population absorption, with a metropolitan crown that extends to the bordering regions. The provinces of Guadalajara and Toledowhich had lost population with the rural exodus, are today experiencing their demographic splendor due to the effect of the metropolis. The five Spanish municipalities that have grown the most in percentage terms are from provinces neighboring Madrid: Yebes, Quer and Pioz (Guadalajara), Barcience (Toledo) and Hontanares de Eresma (Segovia), the town with the lowest average age in Spain.
The proximity of Madrid determines survival. In the same province of Guadalajara, far from the metropolis, are two of the five municipalities that have proportionally lost the most population in the 21st century: Angón and Arbeteta, with less than twenty residents each.
metropolitan crown
Compared to the abrupt growth of its satellite cities, the population of Madrid capital has grown more moderately in the 21st century, with an increase of 16%, awaiting new urban developments that will provide a new boost to metropolization. Meanwhile, Madrid municipalities such as Rivas-Vaciamadrid had 35,000 inhabitants in the 2001 census, and today there are more than 100,000. Between the central city and its crown there is a situation of complementarity, not competition. The dynamic is articulated together, with a central city as the focus of attraction, but with greater demographic growth in the outskirts.
Thus, for example, Seville has lost population compared to past decades, but it has more than compensated for it by the growth of its crown. Seville, the capital, has gradually lost inhabitants since it reached its peak with 705,000 residents in the 1991 census, while its crown has grown by thousands. Now there are 20,000, after containing its decline this year. Although Seville, the capital, continues to be the fifth most populated city in Spain, after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza, the province has been overtaken by the strong growth of Alicante.
Growing coastline
No municipality on the peninsular or Andalusian Mediterranean coast has lost population in the 21st century. On the Mediterranean coast, practically all its towns are in their historical demographic splendor. Of the ten most populated cities in Spain, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Alicante are the ones that have grown the most this century. Palma de Mallorca has gone from 333,000 inhabitants in 2001 to 438,000, 31% more.
The most unfavorable situation is suffered by medium-sized inland cities, with the negative effects that this has for the most disadvantaged rural areas, which depend on these centers to energize their territory. Of the seven provincial capitals that have lost the most population this century, six are from Castilla y León: Zamora, Salamanca, León, Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia. All except Soria, the least populated, have lost inhabitants in the last decade, and not even the growth of their crown compensates for the demographic decline. In any case, the capital with the greatest decline is not in Castilla y León, but in Andalusia. Cadiz The capital has lost 17% of its population, but in the province as a whole, the eighth most populated, it continues to grow.
In this century, the Balearic Islands entered the group of provinces with more than a million inhabitants. The other two island provinces, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, have also been incorporated during the 21st century. There are now 14, three more than in 2001. In addition to the islands, there are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Málaga, Murcia, Cádiz, Vizcaya, La Coruña and Asturias. During this century, Murcia and Cádiz have surpassed Biscaythe one that grows the least of all along with La Coruña, just 3%.
At the beginning of the century there were 56 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, totaling 16.5 million inhabitants. Today there are nine more cities, 65 in total, and they have a total of 19.6 million inhabitants, 3.1 million more. The number of municipalities with less than a thousand inhabitants has barely changed in this time. They continue to be close to five thousand locations, one in six; but now they are much fewer neighbors: from grouping 1.6 million inhabitants they have become 1.4 million.
#map #winning #losing #municipalities #terms #population #21st #century #Spain
