5 Households

5.1 Evolution and structure of households in Barcelona

Among the most basic and relevant information included in the population register is the usual residence where individuals are registered at the reference date. Thus, the registered address becomes an essential element for quantifying the households in which Barcelona residents live and for understanding details about their composition.

According to the latest municipal register reading as of 1 January 2026, there are 1,729,963 residents registered in the city, living in 684,077 households, with an average of 2.46 persons per dwelling11. Compared to one year earlier, the registered population has slightly decreased (by about 2,100 people, -0.12%), while the number of households has increased (by nearly 3,000 dwellings, +0.4%). In recent years, both magnitudes have evolved unevenly and not always in the same direction. In summary, since 2010 the number of households has increased by 3.9% (25,454 more), while the population has grown by 6.8% (110,350 additional residents).

Figure 30: Number of households (1997–2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Number of households, Households by size, Households by size (microdata), Average household size.

The Municipal Register provides individual information on people living at the same address, such as sex, place and date of birth or nationality, but it does not record the family relationships between those registered together, meaning that it is not possible to determine whether family ties exist between them.

Despite this limitation, the register provides valuable statistical information through certain characteristics of the population living in each dwelling, particularly regarding household structure. One recurring feature is the higher presence of women across households: in 25.4% of households there are no men, while those without any women account for 16.0% of the total.

A total of 31.5% of all households in the city are single-person households (218,433). If we relate these individuals to the total adult population of Barcelona, the percentage is 14.6%. Both figures remain relatively stable compared to previous years. Single-person households are also much more common among women than men: of all single-person households, 60.6% correspond to women and 39.4% to men.

The increase in single-person households is due to various factors12. On the one hand, population ageing leads to a rise in people living alone, especially women due to their higher life expectancy. On the other hand, broader social and cultural trends —such as changes in life cycles, advances in gender equality and preferences for personal autonomy— also play a role, together with technological progress and the expansion of social networks, which foster new forms of social interaction beyond shared living arrangements. All these dynamics are associated with emerging household patterns linked to delayed cohabitation, increasing union dissolutions, longer periods of widowhood, or simply a preference for living alone.

Regarding the age structure of household members, two structural situations stand out and are becoming more pronounced over time: on the one hand, 22.5% of households (153,875) have no members of working age (18–64 years); and on the other, households without minors continue to increase, reaching 538,014. In 78.6% of households (5,090 more than last year), there are no residents under the age of 18.

Figure 32: Households by structure, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by household structure, Households by household structure (microdata).

The most common living arrangements, accounting for nearly one third of all households, are those without minors, specifically households with two or more people all aged 18 and over (19.1%) and households with two people aged 18–64 (13.5%), totalling 223,158 households.

Regarding households with minors, 2.8% consist of minors living with a single adult (2.3% with a woman and 0.5% with a man). The most frequent arrangement involving minors (11.6%) consists of households with two adults and children under 18 (77,502 households). An additional 7.1% (49,133) correspond to other combinations involving minors. Overall, households with minors have been decreasing year after year and, after three decades of relative decline, now represent just 21.4% of all households.

When considering nationality, further nuances emerge. Among households composed exclusively of foreign nationals, the most common situation is a household with two people aged 18–64 (22,150 households, 23.7%), although single-adult households aged 18–64 also stand out, accounting for around one third of all such households.

Map 16: Single-person households over total households by AEB (in %), as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by number of people, Households by number of people (microdata).

Among neighbourhoods with the highest proportion of single-person households relative to the total (>40%), three are located in Ciutat Vella: Barceloneta (43.5%), Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera (41.8%), and Barri Gòtic (38.5%). Outside Ciutat Vella, Vila de Gràcia stands out (38.4%). Clearly below the 40% threshold but above the city average of 31.5%, there are several areas distributed across all neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods with the lowest proportion of single-person households are Torre Baró (22.7%) and Ciutat Meridiana (24%).

By age group, the proportion of residents living alone is clearly higher among people aged 65 and over. The territorial breakdown provides a more nuanced picture of the relative weight of older people living alone within the total elderly population of each district. Although this proportion remains high in Ciutat Vella and Gràcia, areas of Poblenou, Marina del Port, Sant Gervasi, Eixample and Nou Barris are gaining prominence. Horta-Guinardó and Sant Andreu remain in intermediate positions.

Figure 33: Single-person households by structure (1997–2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by household structure, Households by household structure (microdata).

The chart shows the evolution of single-person households over the last three decades: they have increased from 125,066 in 1997 to 218,222 (+74.5%). Particularly noteworthy is the increase in male single-person households, which have more than doubled both among those aged 18–64 (+137.1%) and among those aged 65 and over (+109.4%).

Household size, measured by the number of people living in each dwelling, confirms the growing prominence of single-person households, as previously observed in household structure, and shows how one-person households have increased at the expense of more traditional household sizes of three, four or five people. Households with two people —the most common type three decades ago— have now moved into second position. At the same time, households with five or more members have increased in recent years, although this trend now appears to be stabilising; in total, there are almost 57,000 such households, representing 8.3% of the total.

Figure 34: Households in Barcelona by number of members (1997–2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by size, Households by size (microdata).

The chart illustrates how households of one and two people, which are the most common throughout the entire series (1997–2026), have reversed positions: during the first decade, two-person households outnumbered one-person households, until the midpoint of the series, after which the trend reversed, with single-person households becoming clearly dominant.

In line with the trends observed earlier for population by nationality, the distribution of households according to the nationality of their occupants reflects how the number of households composed exclusively of Spanish nationals is gradually decreasing. They remain the majority (72.0%), but this share is steadily declining, while households with foreign residents are increasing symmetrically, both those composed entirely of foreigners (13.7% of the total) and those where Spanish and foreign nationals coexist (14.4% of the total).

Figure 35: Distribution of households by nationality of members (1997–2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by nationality, Households by nationality (microdata).

Figure 36: Distribution of households by nationality of members by district, as of 01/01/2026

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Households by nationality, Households by nationality (microdata).

To conclude the analysis of household composition in the city, a look at the average age of registered residents (44.6 years) reveals a noteworthy difference depending on the nationality of household members: those living in households composed exclusively of foreign nationals have an average age of 36.8 years, whereas in households where all members are Spanish nationals, the average age is 55.2 years. In mixed households, the average age is 38 years. In all three segments, the trend is increasing.

Figure 37: Average age of registered residents in the household by nationality (1997–2026)

Source: Barcelona City Council. Municipal Data Office. Department of Statistics and Data Dissemination. Reading of the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, as of 1 January 2026.
More information available at: Average age of registered people in the household by nationality, Average age of registered people in the household by nationality (microdata).