Press Release 10/02/2026

POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS – POPULATION STRUCTURE. 01/01/2025

Population structure of the Basque Country. 1 January 2025

Highlights:

Nationality: On 1 January 2025, 10.2% of the resident population in the Basque Country were of foreign nationality, a total of 226,367 people, 3 tenths more than on 1 January 2024.

Country of birth: The foreign-born population stood at 310,959, 14% of the total population, 4.2% higher than on 1 January 2024.

Provinces: In Álava, 16% of the population were born abroad, followed by 13.8% in Gipuzkoa and 13.6% in Bizkaia.

Nationality and country of birth: 101,404 foreign-born residents were Spanish nationals, 68% of whom were born in Latin America, 15.1% in Africa and 13% in other European countries.

Age and nationality: The average age of foreign nationals was 34.1, while that of Spanish nationals was 47.5.

Statistical analysis

On 1 January 2025, the number of foreign nationals residing in the Basque Country stood at 226,367, 10.2% of the total population, a percentage 3 tenths higher than on 1 January 2024, according to Eustat data. The proportion for Spain as whole was 14.1%. Therefore, with this figure, the Basque Country was placed between Andalusia, with 10.4%, and Castile and Leon, with 8.5%.

On the same date, 310,959 people born abroad resided in the Basque Country, 14% of the total population, a higher percentage than a year ago (13.5%), but still lower than that for Spain as a whole (19.3%).

The percentage of foreign nationals varied slightly between provinces: Álava had the highest proportion with 11.4% (2 tenths more than in 2024), followed by Gipuzkoa with 10.1% (2 tenths more) and finally, Bizkaia, with 9.9% (4 tenths more).

If we consider the continent, Latin Americans (107,881 people) represented 47.7% of foreign nationals (1.4 points more than in 2024). The countries with the greatest representation in this group were Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Honduras and Paraguay. Between them, these five countries accounted for 32.9% of the total number of foreign nationals, and 68.9% of Latin American nationals. Regarding sex, 49.8% of foreign residents and 57.8% of Latin American residents were women.

African nationals residing in the Basque Country (56,189 people) accounted for 24.8% of all foreign nationals, 0.2 points more than in 2024, with more than half coming from Morocco (54.5%). This was followed by Algeria, Senegal and Nigeria, at 14.7%, 10.5% and 7%, respectively. These four nationalities represented more than 86.7% of those with African nationality, and over 21% of all foreign nationals. If we look at distribution by sex, there was a predominance of men, with 63.4% of the total.

European countries accounted for 19.7% of the foreign population in the Basque Country (44,653 people), 1.6 points less than in 2024. Romania stood out in this group, representing 7.8% of foreign nationals and 39.5% of Europeans. In second place, albeit at some distance from Romania, was Portugal, making up 13.5% of European nationals in the Basque Country. Ukraine came in third place with 10.3%. In this group, the percentage of men was slightly higher than that of women.

In last place were nationals from Asia and Oceania (17,644 people), representing 7.8% of foreign residents. Notably, just two countries accounted for 72.3% of the group: Pakistan, with 39.4%, and China, with 32.9%. In this group, there was a slightly higher proportion of men (50.2%) than women (49.8%).

Latin Americans were in the majority in all three provinces, although there were notable differences

In Bizkaia, Latin Americans represented the greatest proportion of foreign nationals (51.9% of the total), followed by Africans (23.3%) and Europeans (17.6%).

In Gipuzkoa, Latin Americans were once again clearly in the majority, accounting for 44.9% of the total, followed by Europeans (24.6%) and Africans (22.3%).

Meanwhile, in Álava, Latin American nationals also accounted for the highest percentage, with 40.4% in 2025, followed by Africans, who represented 34.2%, and, at some distance, Europeans (16.8%) and Asians (8.6%).

The number of people born abroad exceeded 310,000

On 1 January 2025, the number of people born abroad residing in the Basque Country stood at 310,959 (14% of the total population). The proportion for Spain was 19.3%. Therefore, in this respect, the Basque Country was placed between Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia, with 15.1% and 13.1% of the population born abroad, respectively.

By province, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa had fairly similar percentages of the population born abroad (13.6% and 13.8%, respectively), while in Álava it rose to 16%.

As regards the provincial capitals, all three had percentages of the population born abroad higher than that of the Basque Country as a whole, with Bilbao showing the greatest increase and the highest proportion, at 17.4%, followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz, where it stood at 17.3%, and Donostia/San Sebastián, where it reached 14.4% of its total population.

There were significant differences at the regional level and the percentages of people born abroad ranged from over 15% in the regions of Llanada Alavesa and Rioja Alavesa to less than 10% in others such as Montaña Alavesa.

In just under half of the municipalities of the Basque Country, the proportion of people born abroad remained below 10%. Of the 59 municipalities that had a proportion greater than that of the Basque Country as a whole, only 18 had over 10,000 inhabitants. Navaridas and Lanciego (both in Álava) and Izurtza (in Bizkaia) had the highest percentages, with 23.3%, 23% and 21.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, there were seven municipalities where the percentage was less than 4%: Orexa, Beizama and Berastegi in Gipuzkoa, Zalduondo in Álava, and Ajangiz, Meñaka and Garai in Bizkaia.

101,404 foreign-born residents had Spanish nationality

On 1 January 2025, 101,404 foreign-born residents in the Basque Country had acquired Spanish nationality or already had it due to family or other reasons. Of this number, 68% came from Latin America. Among them, three countries accounted for more than 44% of people in this situation: Colombia (21.6%), Bolivia (12%) and Ecuador (10.7%).

Next were people with Spanish nationality born in African countries, representing 15.1% of the total. Of those, more than half were born in Morocco (55.2%), followed very distantly by those born in Algeria (13.6%).

13% of people who acquired Spanish nationality came from other European countries. Of those, almost a third were born in France (29.4%), 13.7% in Portugal and in third place were those born in Germany, who accounted for 11.1%. People born in Russia represented 8.5% of the total number of people born in other European countries.

Lastly, people born in countries in Asia and Oceania accounted for 3.9% of all people who acquired Spanish nationality. Standing out among them were those born in Pakistan (32.8%), China (27.2%) and the Philippines (12.9%).

The foreign population residing in the Basque Country was younger than the Spanish population

The average age of foreign nationals in the Basque Country was 34.1, a significantly lower figure than that of Spanish nationals, which was 47.5. The average age of the resident population in the Basque Country as a whole was 46.1.

Meanwhile, if we look at place of birth, we can also see notable differences in the average age. The oldest population, whose average age had fallen slightly to 65.6 years in 2025, was that born in the other Autonomous Regions. It was followed by the population born in the Basque Country, with an average age of 43.2 and, lastly, people born abroad, with an average age of 38.4.