Mapping demographic projections
Introduction
The demography of Spain statistically studies the structure and dynamics of the population residing in the Spanish territory, as well as the processes that determine it: fertility, mortality and migration (emigration and immigration) in said territory.[2] Spain is the fourth most populated country in the European Union and the 30th in the world.
Population
Current population
49,442,844 (October 1, 2025, provisional data).[1] It is the maximum value of the historical series.
Demographic evolution of Spain
The historical demography of Spain, the study of its demographic history or demographic evolution, can be divided into two clearly differentiated periods:
• - the ancient or pre-industrial demographic cycle (up to the century ), characterized by high mortality and high birth rates.
• - and the modern demographic cycle (from the end of the century and the beginning of the century), in which the drop in mortality initially caused a demographic transition, with strong increases in the population, passing in its final moments to demographic stability thanks to the drop in birth rates.
In the case of Spain, furthermore, both cycles coincided temporally with the presence or absence of reliable population censuses, with modern characteristics: strictly demographic purposes, periodicity, simultaneity throughout the territory, etc., which allow a precise study of demographic states and processes. In 1857 the first population census of the Spanish statistical series was carried out, while until then we can speak of a pre-statistical era, because although two demographic censuses were carried out (that of Aranda and that of Floridablanca) both lacked an established continuity.
History of demography in Spain
Some sciences have been concerned with population problems (history, medicine) especially in the first third of the century and give rise to studies that are published in magazines, sociology institutions...