Balearic population grew by 30.8% from 2001 to 2011

Across the country, the population grew by 6 million over the same period to reach 46.8 million inhabitants, due largely to the number of foreign residents in Spain. Foreigners over the decade have tripled in number to reach 5.2 million.

These statistics form part of the population census which is carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on behalf of Central Government every ten years.

The most recent findings reveal that there has been a population increase since 2001 of 14.6% from 2001 to 2011, the highest recorded increase ever.
In the case of the increase of the Spanish population, the INE has explained the rise by the fact that there is now a higher life expectancy, that there was a slight upturn in the birth rate recorded between 2005 and 2009, and also that many foreigners have acquired Spanish nationality.

There has been an upturn in population in all regions of the country although with significant variations. The Balearics had the highest increase of 30.8% from 2001 to 2011 whilst Asturias registered the least growth, just 1.1 percent.

Looking at the provinces of Spain, as opposed to the regions, Guadalajara's population over the decade has grown by 47 percent, the highest provincial growth in the country. Only four provinces (Zamora, Ourense, Lugo and Palencia) lost population with downturns of between 2.1 and 3.8 percent. Data collected by the INE also included municipal growth, claiming that more than half (4'145) have lost population but with exceptional cases such as Yebes (Guadalajara) which has multiplied the number of inhabitants by ten.