4 Nationality

The previous section described how a high percentage of the foreign-born population residing in Barcelona has obtained Spanish nationality. Therefore, considering the country of birth rather than nationality in the analysis provides a more accurate picture of the diversity of Barcelona’s population, regardless of whether residents are foreign nationals or not. Specifically, taking place of birth into account makes visible the particular situation of 11 out of every 100 residents of the city as of 1 January 2026, or, in other words, of the 30% of foreign-born residents who hold Spanish nationality.

Nevertheless, nationality is an essential variable in the analysis of sociodemographic diversity, as it provides the information necessary to understand the structure of social stratification within the city. Indeed, holding the nationality of the country of residence is a highly determining factor in the lives of individuals and their families, especially for non-EU residents, as it enables the full exercise of citizenship rights, a necessary condition for achieving equal opportunities and social cohesion. This is particularly relevant in the current context of accelerating and diversifying international migration flows since the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, given that part of the population that has recently arrived in Barcelona may not yet have completed the process of acquiring citizenship in the destination country.

Furthermore, acquiring Spanish nationality is not the same process for everyone. The ease and duration of the process, which may take between 2 and 10 years from arrival, are determined by the existence of dual nationality treaties between Spain and certain countries of origin, as well as by legislation that favours the naturalisation of descendants of Spanish nationals. This situation explains why the proportion of Spanish nationals among immigrants depends more on origin than on the degree of settlement or the length of residence of a given group. Thus, among residents from Latin America, the proportion rises to 43.3%. By contrast, only 15.6% of those born in Asia hold Spanish nationality. To cite some specific examples shown in Figure 12, the range extends from the low proportions of people born in Argentina and Ecuador who have retained the nationality of their country of origin, to Pakistanis, Indians, Moroccans and Chinese, among whom the coincidence between origin and nationality remains very high.

4.1 The population of Barcelona according to nationality

The strong migration wave of the first decade of the 21st century led to a spectacular increase in national diversity among the city’s population in less than three decades, with the proportion of foreign nationals rising from 4.9% in 2001 to 17.5% in 2010. This was followed by a five-year period of stability, after which a new increase began in 2016, surpassing the 20% threshold in 2019. Once the pandemic period had passed, the arrival of foreign nationals accelerated again, reaching 460,409 people in 2026, representing 26.6% of the total population. Underlying this evolution is a strong synchronisation with the economic cycle.

Figure 16: Trend in Barcelona’s population by nationality (1997-2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register. From 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2026.
Further information is available at the following links: Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign), Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex, Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex (microdata) and Rate (%) of population with foreign nationality.

However, as noted above, the rate of growth slowed considerably in 2026 compared with previous years, so that the year-on-year increase this year was 0.7%. In fact, the highest growth rate in the post-pandemic period was recorded in 2024 (10.4%), whereas in 2025 growth had already moderated to 5.7%. By contrast, the population with Spanish nationality experienced declines during much of the period analysed. Thus, in 2026 it recorded a decrease of 0.4% compared with the previous year.

Figure 17: Barcelona population by nationality (1997-2026), year-on-year change (%)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register. From 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign), Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex, Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex (microdata) and Rate (%) of population with foreign nationality.

4.2 Foreing population

4.2.1 Temporal evolution

Regarding the national composition of the foreign population, residents holding a nationality of a European Union country number 123,113 and account for 26.7% of all foreigners (Figure 18). Following a small and temporary decline in 2021, the EU population once again increased strongly in Barcelona and, although the upward trend slowed during the most recent year, the group has accumulated growth of 20.4% since the end of the pandemic. In the case of non-EU foreigners, the acceleration of growth slowed considerably in 2026, although it remained positive. With an increase of 0.5% in the most recent year, their number reached a new record high of 337,296 individuals, representing 73.3% of the total foreign population¹⁴.

Figure 18: Trend in the proportion of the foreign population relative to the total population (1997-2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register. From 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign), Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex, Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and sex (microdata), and Rate (%) of population with foreign nationality.

Figure 19: Trend in the foreign population by continent of nationality (1997-2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register. From 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Population by continent of nationality, Population by continent of nationality and sex (microdata), Population by geographical region of nationality and sex, Population by continent of nationality and five-year age groups and Population by continent of nationality, sex and five-year age groups (microdata).

4.2.2 Territorial distribution

Figure 20 describes the distribution of foreigners by continent of nationality across the city’s districts. Although people from all five continents can be found in each district, territorial patterns that persist year after year can be observed. On the one hand, Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris and Sant Andreu stand out for their high concentration of people from the Americas, while Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Gràcia and Eixample are home to the largest numbers of non-Spanish Europeans. Finally, it should be noted that Ciutat Vella is the district with the highest number of Asians, where they constitute the largest group, with 26,223 people, representing 41% of the foreigners residing in the district.

Figure 20: Foreign population in the districts by continent of nationality, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register. From 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Population by continent of nationality, Population by continent of nationality and sex (microdata), Population by geographical region of nationality and sex, Population by continent of nationality and five-year age groups and Population by continent of nationality, sex and five-year age groups (microdata).

Zooming in territorially, Map 34 shows that although the foreign population is distributed throughout all neighbourhoods, its presence is more noticeable in some than in others. In particular, the neighbourhoods of Ciutat Vella have the highest proportion of foreigners, followed by several neighbourhoods in Sant Martí bordering the Besòs area. To a lesser extent, certain neighbourhoods in Sant Andreu, Nou Barris, Sants-Montjuïc and the central part of Eixample also stand out. Therefore, the territorial distribution of foreigners in Barcelona is far from homogeneous.

It is interesting to compare this map with those showing the territorial distribution of people born abroad. The territorial distribution of the foreign-nationality population does not therefore derive directly from that of the foreign-born population, and this is explained by territorial differences in the proportions of people born abroad who hold Spanish nationality. Indeed, when nationality is considered, the high concentrations of immigrant population in the northern neighbourhoods of the city are moderated. As shown in Table 2, the districts with the highest numbers of naturalised immigrants are Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris and Sant Andreu, while Ciutat Vella has the fewest. These differences can be explained by residents’ nationality of origin and length of residence at destination.

Map 34: Foreign population by AEB, as of 01/01/2026

Map 35: Foreign population by AEB, annual change (%), as of 01/01/2026

The year-on-year increase in Barcelona’s foreign population has moderated considerably compared with that recorded in 2025. Even so, as shown in Map 35, growth has been widely distributed throughout the territory: in eight of the ten districts and in most neighbourhoods, the proportion of foreigners increased. A total of 133 Basic Statistical Areas gained foreign population. By district, the largest relative increases correspond to Ciutat Vella (+1,048 foreign residents, +1.7% compared with 2025), Sant Andreu (+378, +1.3%) and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi (+301, +1.1%). The two districts experiencing negative growth are Gràcia (-86 foreigners, -0.3%) and Horta-Guinardó (-19 foreigners, -0.1%).

4.2.3 Main nationalities

Figure 21 describes the 20 most common nationalities in Barcelona as of 1 January 2026. Italian nationality, with 54,036 people, clearly stands out quantitatively, maintaining a marked lead over the other most common nationalities. At some distance appears the second nationality, Colombian, with 30,196 nationals. They are followed, in descending order of frequency, by Pakistan (26,317), China (23,937), Peru (23,300) and France (20,075). It should be noted that Italian nationals include both people born in Italy and people born in Argentina. This explains why Argentinians rank only tenth by nationality, despite being the largest group by country of birth. A similar pattern can be observed for most Latin American nationalities, which occupy lower positions in this ranking than they did among the principal countries of birth. The opposite is true for nationals of Pakistan, China and Morocco, who move up the ranking compared with their positions in the classification by country of birth.

Figure 21: Foreign population by most common nationalities, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register, as of 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Population by country of nationality, Population by country of nationality and sex and Population by continent and country of nationality.

Figure 22: Trend in the number of people with the most common foreign nationalities in Barcelona (1997-2026)

As illustrated in Figure 22, the prominence of Italian nationals has remained unchanged for the last 14 years. Italians are becoming increasingly numerous: whereas there were 24,279 in 2013, by 2026 there are already more than twice as many, 54,036, an increase of almost 30,000 people. Looking further back, Pakistanis held the leading position in 2011 and 2012; before that, Italians again in 2009 and 2010; Ecuadorians during the period of economic expansion; and Moroccans from 1997 to 2000.

Finally, Table 7 indicates that, despite the numerical significance of certain nationalities, the foreign population is highly diverse, and in 2026 Barcelona is home to residents of 181 nationalities in addition to Spanish nationality. With 165 nationalities, Eixample is the district with the greatest national diversity, while Les Corts is the most homogeneous, with residents from 139 different nationalities.

Table 7: Number of nationalities in the population of the districts, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register, as of 1 January 2026.
Further information is available at the following links: Population by country of nationality, Population by country of nationality and sex and Population by continent and country of nationality.

4.3 Households according to the nationality of their residents

The Municipal Population Register records the usual residence of individuals, making it possible to quantify the households in which Barcelona’s residents live, as well as to identify details regarding their composition. This section describes the evolution and cohabitation characteristics of households according to the nationality of the people registered at the same address.

Barcelona has increased from 558,539 households in 1997 to 684,077 in 2026. This growth of nearly 130,000 households has been exclusively due to households in which all residents are foreign nationals or to mixed households, where Spanish nationals live together with foreign nationals. In fact, during the period 1997-2026, a decline can be observed (Figure 23) in households where only Spanish nationals are registered, falling from 542,996 to 492,277, a decrease of -9.3%. As a result, in 2026, 72% of households in the city of Barcelona are composed of people with Spanish nationality, while 13.7% are composed exclusively of foreign nationals and 14.4% are mixed households.

Figure 23: Trend in the number of households by the nationality of their residents (1997-2026)

Figure 24 details this distribution by district, indicating that households composed exclusively of Spanish nationals are a minority in Ciutat Vella (42.6%, or 17,784 of the district’s 41,721 households), account for 70.6% in Sants-Montjuïc and, at the opposite end, are most prevalent in the districts of Sant Andreu (80.3%) and Les Corts (79.4%).

Figure 24: Households by the nationality of their residents, by district, as of 01/01/2026

Finally, the analysis of households according to the nationality of their residents and household structure shown in Figure 25 provides insight into patterns of cohabitation according to nationality. Mixed households, by definition, consist of more than one person. Of these, more than half are households composed of adults living together without minors under the age of 18. A total of 35.9% consist of two or more people, all aged 18 or over, and 20% consist of two people aged between 18 and 64.

However, among mixed households, those including minors are also quantitatively significant. Thus, 15.4% consist of three or more people, two aged 18 or over and the remainder minors, while 22.9% are households with more than two adults and additional residents under the age of 18. By contrast, single-parent households headed by either a father or a mother are uncommon, as are households including persons aged 65 and over.

If we compare households of Spanish nationals with those of foreign nationals, the first striking feature is that single-person households are proportionally very similar in both cases, representing 37.3% among the former and 36.1% among the latter. However, whereas among Spanish-national households, single-person households aged 65 and over are particularly noteworthy, among foreign-national households it is adults aged 18 to 64 living alone who stand out. In fact, in line with their younger age structure, the presence of people aged 65 and over is very limited among households of foreign nationality. Instead, households composed of two people aged 18 to 64 without minors are more common (23.7% compared with 10.3% among Spanish nationals), as are other households including one or more persons under the age of 18 (8.5% compared with 3.9% among Spanish nationals).

Figure 25: Households by the nationality of their residents and household composition, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Statistics and Data Dissemination Department. Municipal Population Register, as of 1 January 2026.
Further information can be found at the following link: Households by nationality and household structure.

4.4 Labour market by nationality

During the twentieth century, the industrialisation of the metropolitan area and the demand for workers in the secondary sector of the economy drove the arrival of people born in the rest of Catalonia and Spain. In the current context of economic globalisation and the predominance of the tertiary and service sectors in Barcelona’s economy, the demand for low-skilled workers in sectors such as tourism, retail, domestic services and construction partly explains the intensification of international immigration flows into the city during the twenty-first century. However, Barcelona has historically been a selective destination for skilled migrants, as noted by Cabré and Pujadas (1982)¹⁵.

In this regard, recent trends have been characterised by the arrival of foreign populations with increasingly high educational qualifications, as described in Section 3.4. Consequently, aggregate labour indicators by nationality should be interpreted with due caution, taking into account the diversity of socioeconomic profiles among the foreign labour force in Barcelona. Some specific groups cannot be distinguished using the available labour data. This is the case of the increasingly numerous group of so-called expats, highly qualified and well-paid workers who reside in Barcelona but maintain employment ties with their country of origin and have high residential mobility. It is also the case of the large number of foreign postgraduate students who combine study and work.

Figure 26 shows the evolution of the active population in Barcelona based on quarterly data from the Barcelona subsample of the Labour Force Survey conducted by the National Statistics Institute and IDESCAT. Regarding the active population with Spanish nationality, the trend from 2005 to the first quarter of 2026 has been fairly stable, although declining, with small fluctuations within a range of between 700,000 and 600,000 active persons. By contrast, the evolution of the foreign active population fluctuates according to economic conditions. It increases during periods of economic expansion, in parallel with the growing weight of the foreign population in the city, and even continued to grow during the first quarters of the economic crisis, reaching 199.10 thousand active persons in the third quarter of 2011, representing 23.3% of Barcelona’s total active population.

From 2012 onwards, the number of foreign active persons declined until reaching a minimum of 123 thousand people in the third quarter of 2015, accounting for 15.8% of all active persons. With economic recovery and, in parallel, a new phase of immigration flows into the city, the upward trend of foreigners participating in the labour market resumed, reaching a peak of 293.9 thousand active persons in the first quarter of 2026, representing 31% of the total active population and doubling their relative weight in less than a decade. This evolution in the nationality composition of the labour force is clearly derived from the demographic composition of the population, as well as from the specific effects of the economic context according to the origin and nationality of the workforce.

Figure 26: Trend in the economically active population by nationality and in the proportion of foreign nationals within the total economically active population (2005–2026)

Source: Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat), based on data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) provided by the National Statistics Institute (INE). From the first quarter of 2005 to the third quarter of 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Active population by nationality group, Census population by labour status, nationality (Spain and Foreign) and sex and Employed population by nationality.

The evolution of employment and unemployment rates indicates that foreigners, in aggregate terms, are more vulnerable to economic conditions, reflecting the process of labour market segregation by origin (Veira, Stanek and Cachón, L., 2011)¹⁶, especially during the years preceding the economic crisis. Figure 27 shows how employment rates remained around 90% among both Spanish and foreign workers until 2009, when job losses became evident in both groups. Clearly, the impact of the employment downturn was particularly severe among foreign workers (Gil-Alonso and Vidal-Coso, 2015)¹⁷, reaching a minimum employment rate of 71.3% in the first quarter of 2014. From 2015 onwards, employment recovery began for both Spaniards and foreigners, reducing the differences between the groups and bringing both close to a 90% employment rate.

Once again, the labour crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on employment. However, while the decline was relatively small among Spanish workers, it was much more significant among foreigners: from an employment rate of 91.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019, it dropped to 78% in the third quarter of 2020. The labour downturn among foreigners was temporary. Recovery became evident from 2021 onwards, with employment levels recovering and subsequently converging towards those of workers with Spanish nationality, although quarterly employment fluctuations continue to be greater among the foreign labour force. The latest available data correspond to the first quarter of 2026 and show a gap of more than nine percentage points between the employment rate of 93.8% among the active population with Spanish nationality and 84.5% among foreigners.

The evolution of registered unemployment (Figure 28) confirms the above, with a greater increase in unemployment among foreigners during both periods of adverse economic conditions. Once the COVID-19 pandemic had passed, the trend moved towards relative stability in unemployment levels regardless of nationality, although there was a slight decline in the number of unemployed Spaniards, contrasting with a slight upward trend in the absolute number of unemployed people of other nationalities. In the latter case, a possible explanation would be the incorporation of new job seekers resulting from the intensification of international immigration flows since 2022.

It is interesting to note the differential impact of unemployment by sex according to nationality. Among foreigners, during the economic crisis the greatest employment losses mainly affected men, as the crisis particularly hit more male-dominated economic sectors where precarious and low-skilled work was common. Foreign women, by contrast, largely concentrated in domestic and care work, were better able to withstand the employment downturn. Following economic recovery, male and female unemployment figures among foreigners became similar. In the case of workers with Spanish nationality, however, higher levels of female unemployment persisted. Although during the economic crisis the number of unemployed men approached the number of unemployed women, this was also a temporary effect resulting from the concentration of job losses in male-dominated sectors. With economic recovery, the unemployment gap between men and women widened again and continues to this day.

Figure 27: Trend in the employment rate by nationality (2005–2026)

Figure 28: Trend in the number of registered unemployed persons by sex and nationality (2009–2026)

Source: Government of Catalonia. Labour Observatory and Productive Model. Data from the Spanish Public Employment Service (SEPE). From January 2009 to December 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Number of people registered as unemployed by nationality and Number of people registered as unemployed by sex and nationality.

Figure 29 shows the distribution of employment contracts signed in Barcelona during 2024 according to the nationality of the worker, based on data from the Catalan Employment Service (SOC) and the Spanish Public Employment Service, provided by the Labour and Productive Model Observatory. More than half of the contracts signed by foreign workers, 54.8%, were permanent contracts, while a further 30.5% were temporary contracts due to production-related circumstances. Among workers with Spanish nationality, the proportion of permanent contracts signed throughout the year was lower, at 34.9%. Temporary hiring predominated, including 38.3% of contracts due to production-related circumstances and 12.4% replacement contracts.

Figure 29: Employment contracts signed in Barcelona during 2025 by the worker’s nationality

Source: Government of Catalonia. Labour Observatory and Productive Model. From January 2026 to December 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Number of registered work contracts of foreign persons by modality, Number of registered work contracts of foreign persons by gender and modality, [Number of registered work contracts by modality]https://portaldades.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/en/statistics/snulkfqjcc) and Number of registered work contracts by gender and modality.

Regarding wages, Figure 30 depicts an upward trend in average earnings from 2010, during the economic crisis, to 2024. This pattern of wage growth is common among both Spanish and foreign workers, men and women alike, although it should be noted that the average wage of foreign women declined in 2024. Despite the upward trend in earnings across all groups, wage patterns by nationality and sex remain clearly differentiated. Workers with Spanish nationality earn higher salaries than foreign workers. Specifically, in 2024, the latest year for which data are available, the wage gap by nationality was almost €12,000 per year among men, meaning average earnings of €42,718 for Spanish men compared with €30,826 for foreign men. Among women, the difference is smaller, although the annual salary of Spanish women (€34,895) is, on average, more than €7,000 higher than that of foreign women (€27,884). In addition to inequality by nationality, there is also the persistent gender pay gap: whether Spanish or foreign, the average salary of female workers in Barcelona is lower than that of men within the same nationality group, although this gender gap is greater among Spaniards.

Figure 30: Trend in the average annual salary (€/year) of Barcelona residents by sex and nationality group (2010-2024)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD), based on data from the National Social Security Institute. Continuous Sample of Working Lives. From 2010 to 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Average salary (€) of people residing in Barcelona by nationality group and Average salary (€) of people residing in Barcelona by sex and nationality group.

Figure 31: Trend in the average annual salary (€/year) of foreign residents in Barcelona by sex and nationality group of origin (2010-2024)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD), based on data from the National Social Security Institute. Continuous Sample of Working Lives. From 2010 to 2026.
Further information can be found at the following links: Average salary (€) of foreign residents in Barcelona by origin of nationality group and Average salary (€) of foreign residents in Barcelona by sex and origin of the nationality group.

Nevertheless, it is also interesting to observe that, despite this evident wage gap, wage growth has been more pronounced among foreigners, both men and women, although it stalled for foreign women during the last year. As a result, the nationality wage gap has narrowed compared with 2010, when it stood at around €15,000 in favour of Spanish men over foreign men, and around €10,000 in favour of Spanish women over foreign women.

The favourable wage evolution among foreign workers can be interpreted as a consequence of the improvement in the educational and professional profile of people from certain foreign-origin groups discussed in Section 3.4. Specifically, as shown in Figure 31, the average earnings of workers from the rest of the European Union are practically identical to, and in some cases even higher than, those of Spaniards. Average earnings among workers from the rest of Europe are slightly lower, while for the remaining foreign worker groups they are substantially lower, standing between €20,000 and €23,000 in 2024 depending on the group.

Figure 32: Employees (%) experiencing in-work poverty by sex and nationality (2024)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD), based on data from the National Social Security Institute. Continuous Sample of Working Lives (MCVL), 2026.
Further information can be found at the following link: Rate (%) of salaried people who suffer from wage poverty by origin of the nationality group.

Inequalities in earnings by nationality and sex directly influence the levels of in-work poverty shown in Figure 32.

With regard to sex differences, the rate of in-work poverty is higher among women, with the sole exception of nationals from the rest of the world, among whom male in-work poverty slightly exceeds female in-work poverty. As for the incidence of in-work poverty by nationality group, wage earners with Spanish nationality show the lowest percentages (11.5% among female employees and 8.5% among male employees), which are very similar to those of workers from the rest of the European Union. In-work poverty, by contrast, is clearly higher among workers from the rest of Europe (approximately double that of Spaniards), and among Latin Americans and those from the rest of the world (approximately triple).

4.5 Education by nationality

The growing internationalisation of Barcelona society goes beyond the heterogeneity of demographic profiles and the increased presence of foreign workers. Barcelona, given its expanding educational offer and the prestige of the research projects conducted by the city’s research groups, has become a preferred destination for pursuing academic life.

The data provided by the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Government of Catalonia inform us about the number of foreign students enrolled at the city’s universities, whether undertaking undergraduate or postgraduate studies at these institutions or carrying out research through a doctoral programme. Considering the most recent available data, corresponding to the 2023-24 academic year, Figure 33 shows that although foreigners are a minority among undergraduate students at the various universities, the proportion of international students is very significant in postgraduate studies.

Figure 33: Number of students enrolled in university by type of studies, nationality group, and university, academic year 2023-2024

Source: Open Data of Catalonia, Secretariat for Universities and Research. Academic year 2021–2022.
Further information can be found at the following links: Number of students matriculated to university by sex, nationality group and university, Number of students matriculated to university type of study, nationality group and university, Number of students entering university by type of study, nationality group and university, Number of graduated students by sex, nationality group and university, Number of graduated students by type of study, nationality group and university and Number of students entering university by sex, nationality group and university.

More specifically, the number of foreign master’s students at UPF, 2,201, exceeds the number of students with Spanish nationality, 1,992. At other universities, such as UB, UPC and UAB, foreigners account for approximately half of all master’s students. The only public university that stands apart from these high levels of internationalisation in master’s programmes is UOC. Among private universities, URL stands out, where non-Spanish students form the majority in master’s programmes, with 1,870 foreign enrolments compared with 1,391 Spanish enrolments.

Finally, the presence of foreign students is most notable among doctoral candidates: at UPC and UPF they outnumber Spanish students and, to provide other examples, they account for 38% of doctoral enrolments at UAB, 38.6% at UOC and 34.1% at UB.

4.6 Cadastre and real estate market by nationality

In addition to data on the nationality of Barcelona’s population from the Municipal Register of Inhabitants and from labour market and university student statistics, there are also two complementary sources that provide alternative indicators concerning people of foreign nationality who appear as property owners: on the one hand, statistical analyses of Barcelona’s cadastral databases¹⁸; and on the other, statistics derived from notarial records of real estate transactions in Barcelona.

The cadastral databases constitute a comprehensive register of urban and non-urban real estate assets within a territory and provide the basis for compiling the Property Tax (IBI) register. This annual IBI register provides information on the characteristics of the entire cadastral stock (plots, properties, charges, premises, dwellings, etc.) and their principal owners, such as whether the primary owner of an asset is an individual with Spanish or foreign nationality.

On the other hand, notarial purchase deeds provide information about the new owners of properties and the characteristics of the transaction, including values, prices and locations within this market dynamic.

4.6.1 Evolution and territorial distribution

The latest statistical exploitation of Barcelona’s cadastral records (year 2026) identifies, as the total stock, around one and a half million cadastral units (1,477,384) devoted to different uses, of which 836,621 are dwellings. The equivalent figures for 2018 were 1.427 million cadastral units and 812 thousand dwellings respectively, meaning that during this period they increased by 3.5% and 3% respectively. These increases are below the growth in the registered population during the same period, which amounted to 6.2% between 2018 and 2026.

If we take the period 2018-2026 as a reference point¹⁹, these seven years reveal differences between the Spanish and foreign nationality groups within each population universe, as shown in Table 8.

Table 8: Evolution of the cadastral stock and the real estate market by nationality of the owner or buyer (individual), 2019-2026

Source: Municipal Population Register, Cadastre, and notarial property transaction records.
Further information is available at the following links: Number of cadastral premises by type of owner, Number of housing premises by aggregated type of owner, Number of housing transactions by buyers’ nationality group, Population by nationality (Spain/EU/Rest of foreign) and the search for different cadastral indicators.Further information is also available in the interactive application Property transactions in Barcelona.

The first observation is that while the registered population holding Spanish nationality declined by 4.4%, the population holding foreign nationality increased by 52.8%, and this divergence becomes even more pronounced when comparing year-on-year changes in the nationality of cadastral property owners²⁰.

Focusing on properties owned by private individuals, in 2026 slightly more than one million cadastral units are owned by Spanish nationals, representing 97% of the total, compared with 61 thousand owned by foreign nationals, representing 3.3% of the total. Between 2018 and 2026, the number of cadastral units owned by Spanish nationals increased by only 0.1%, whereas those owned by foreign nationals increased by 72.8%. Looking specifically at owners of cadastral dwellings, there is a slight decrease (-0.4%) among Spanish owners compared with a notable increase of 84.6% among foreign owners.

From a territorial perspective, dwellings owned by people of foreign nationality are fairly concentrated in the neighbourhoods of Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sant Martí and Sants-Montjuïc. Initially, El Raval led the ranking and has maintained this position from the outset, but the incorporation of Dreta de l’Eixample, Antiga Esquerra de l’Eixample, Poble-sec, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, Sagrada Família, Vila de Gràcia and Poblenou has gradually shaped the current map year after year. This transformation can be observed by comparing Maps 36 and 37 for the years 2009 and 2026.

Map 36: Dwellings owned by foreign nationals, 2009

Map 37: Dwellings owned by foreign nationals, 2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD), based on data from the Property Tax (IBI) provided by the Directorate General for Cadastre (DGC) and the Municipal Tax Office.
Further information can be found at the following link: Number of housing premises by aggregated type of owner.

Regarding the 2025 data on notarial property transactions, those involving buyers of Spanish nationality account for 70.6%, those signed exclusively by foreign buyers account for 22.9%, and those involving buyers of mixed nationality account for 6.4%. The trend has been a decline in transactions involving exclusively Spanish buyers, although the evolution has not resulted in particularly significant changes. For example, in 2014 the proportions were already quite similar to current levels: 74.5% of property transactions involved Spanish buyers, 20.9% involved foreign buyers, and 4.6% involved Spanish and foreign buyers jointly.

Figure 34: Residential property transactions by buyer’s nationality, 2012–2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD), based on notarial records of real estate transactions in Barcelona.
Further information can be found at the following links: Number of housing transactions by buyers’ nationality group.

4.7 Vehicle fleet by nationality

We include this section with a new municipal data source to gain further insight into people of foreign nationality living in Barcelona: the statistical exploitation of the citys Vehicle Census. The indicators obtained from this census not only provide information on the vehicles that form part of the citys active vehicle fleet, but also on certain characteristics of their owners, such as, in this case, whether the registered owner holds Spanish or foreign nationality²¹.

This statistical exploitation is based on vehicles with a registered address in the city of Barcelona that remain active after the end of the fiscal year (31 December of each year). It is produced from taxpayer records of the Motor Vehicle Tax (Impost sobre Vehicles de Tracció Mecànica, IVTM), commonly known as the vehicle circulation tax, and counts the vehicles registered and active in the municipality, excluding those under temporary deregistration and/or transferred to another municipality, thereby constituting the annual vehicle register.

4.7.1 Evolution and territorial distrbution

The latest statistics from Barcelonas Vehicle Census (year 2025) report a total of 821,740 vehicles, distributed across different categories, of which 471,498 are passenger cars (59.5%) and 241,026 are motorcycles (25.9%). The corresponding figures for 2018 were 827,278 vehicles: 492 thousand passenger cars (57.4%) and 214 thousand motorcycles (29.3%). In other words, over this eight-year period, the total vehicle fleet decreased by 0.7%. The growing prominence of two-wheeled vehicles has masked this decline since, while passenger cars fell by 4.2%, motorcycles increased by 12.4%.

However, if we take the 2018-2025 period as a reference point²², significant differences emerge over these eight years between owners of Spanish nationality and those of foreign nationality for each vehicle category, as shown in Table 9.

Table 9: Evolution of the vehicle fleet, passenger cars and motorcycles by nationality of the owner (individual), 2016-2023

Source: Vehicle Register and Municipal Population Register.
Further information is available at the following links: Number of vehicles by nationality groups of the owner and type of vehicle, Number of vehicles by owner’s nationality groups and the search for different vehicle fleet indicators.

Looking at the last eight years, we have already seen that the population registered with Spanish nationality has steadily declined: between 2018 and 2025 it fell by 4%, while the group with foreign nationality grew by 51.7%. This same pattern is also observed among vehicle owners, although in a more irregular way: vehicles owned by individuals with Spanish nationality have also decreased year after year (-3.2%), while those owned by individuals with foreign nationality have increased (+30.6%). However, the proportion of vehicles owned by foreign nationals remains relatively small: 80 thousand vehicles (9.7%) compared with 742 thousand owned by Spanish nationals (90.3%). In the case of passenger cars, the relationship between Spanish and foreign owners is almost identical (90.6% and 9.4%, respectively), and very similar in the case of motorcycle ownership (89.2% and 10.8%). Over the period, the main changes have been an increase in foreign ownership of passenger cars (32.4%) and motorcycles (49.8%), together with a decline in Spanish ownership of passenger cars (-6.9%), offset by growth in motorcycle ownership (9%). Figure 35 shows the evolution of the different vehicle categories owned by people of foreign nationality.

Figure 35: Trend in the composition of the foreign-owned vehicle fleet by vehicle type 2016-2025

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD). Vehicle Register, based on data from the Motor Vehicle Tax (IVTM).
Further information can be found at the following links: Number of vehicles by nationality groups of the owner and type of vehicle.

The territorial distribution of passenger cars owned by people of foreign nationality is concentrated in the south-central neighbourhoods of the city (Dreta de l’Eixample, Antiga Esquerra de l’Eixample, Vila de Gràcia, Sant Gervasi-Galvany, El Raval, El Poble-sec and Sants-Montjuïc). Comparing the two snapshots shown in Maps 38 and 39, it can be seen that this distribution, illustrated by the darker shades on the map, has remained stable and has not spread to other areas. Over the period, what has occurred is an intensification of the values.

Map 38: Passenger cars owned by foreign nationals, 2017

Map 39: Passenger cars owned by foreign nationals, 2023

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office (OMD). Vehicle Register based on data from the Motor Vehicle Tax (IVTM).
Further information can be found at the following link: Number of vehicles by nationality groups of the owner and type of vehicle.

On the other hand, the current territorial distribution in 2025 is shown in the following charts, where the similarities between the two vehicle categories, passenger cars and motorcycles, can be observed.

Figure 36: Number of passenger cars and motorcycles by the owner’s nationality group, as of 31/12/2025