Almost 60% of Barcelona’s 25 to 34-year-olds arrived in the city less than a decade ago. According to the city council’s latest sociodemographic survey, 59.7% of residents in this age bracket moved to Barcelona from 2015 onwards.
This represents a massive demographic transformation. Moreover, the percentage has jumped over 10% since the council’s 2017 survey. Back then, only 48.1% of under-35s had lived in Barcelona for less than 10 years.
The survey interviewed 10,470 people across 4,723 households between November 2024 and February 2025. Meanwhile, the findings reveal that recent arrivals now significantly outnumber long-term residents amongst young adults.
Lifelong Barcelona residents in the 25-34 bracket have steadily declined. They fell from 46.9% in 2020 to 40.1% in 2022. Now they’re down to just 39.6%. Therefore, newcomers have become the majority in this crucial age group.
Foreign-born residents dominate young age groups
The shift extends beyond recent arrivals. Indeed, foreign-born people now outnumber Barcelona natives in three key age brackets. Specifically, those aged 25-29, 30-34, and 35-39 are majority foreign-born.
Pau Alarcón from Institut Metròpoli explains that transnational migration has driven the city’s demographics since 2000. These new Barcelona residents have become the majority population in certain age ranges.
The 35-44 age group shows similar patterns. Residents with less than 10 years in Barcelona have surged from 28% in 2017 to 42.3% currently. Furthermore, young people aged 16-24 with under a decade’s residence jumped from 21.9% to 33.4%.
International migration drives growth
Immigration to Barcelona is increasingly international. A decade ago, arrivals were split roughly evenly. About a third came from other Catalan municipalities, a third from elsewhere in Spain, and a third from abroad.
Now, over half of new residents come from foreign countries. Ciutat Vella leads this trend, with 55% of residents born outside Spain. That’s up 20% since 2017. Additionally, foreign-born residents in Eixample rose from 20.2% to 30.4%.
Sants-Montjuïc saw increases from 19.3% to 31.3%. Similarly, Gràcia jumped from 13.9% to 29.5%. Citywide, foreign-born residents grew from 17% to 28.9%.
The survey also found that 7.6% of Barcelona residents arrived within the past two years. Recent arrivals reach 13% in Ciutat Vella and 9% in Les Corts, Sants-Montjuïc, and Eixample.
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