For the first time in six years, it exceeds the number of deaths in Madrid. In 2025, 27,097 children were born in the capital, 844 more than the previous year, and 26,533 people died, according to data from the municipal registry presented this Thursday by the vice mayor, Inma Sanz, at the weekly press conference after the Government Board. Even so, the city is losing population and breaking its growth trend: 30,647 fewer inhabitants, falling below the symbolic figure of 3.5 million registered in 2024, the historical maximum reached to date.
Currently, 3,497,277 people are registered in Madrid, 0.87% less than in the previous period. Sanz has detailed that this is due to a registry adjustment. Specifically, to an unusual number of management withdrawals processed in 2025: 100,000. These are casualties required by the registry regulations and are not related to population movements, explained the vice mayor. For example, those who had to renew or confirm their registration in the registry and did not do so, or those who no longer reside in an address and it is verified that they are still registered there. It is a common procedure, but this year it has been especially intense, Sanz said. Without this adjustment, he added, “the population would have grown to around 70,000 inhabitants.”
Added to this is that, compared to the figures from the previous year, the number of inhabitants of Spanish nationality and foreigners has decreased compared to 2024: minus 2,400 in the first case and minus 28,000 in the second.
According to statistics, 80.6% of the population is of Spanish nationality and 19.4% is foreign. If detailed by place of birth, almost 70% were born in Spain and the rest, 30.5%, outside. The data also reflects that 47% of those registered in Madrid are men (1,642,288) and 53% are women (1,855,049).
Fewer arrivals from abroad
In 2025, 117,706 people from abroad were registered in the registry. In 2024 there were 136,000, 13% more. More than half of these new registrants come from Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, the United States, China, Ecuador and Mexico. At the same time, 11,589 foreigners registered last year. The most common destinations for these people who left Madrid were the United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland and Venezuela.
Regarding movements within Spain – people who move from one municipality to another – the balance is negative, as has happened in recent years: 82,235 registrations from the registry compared to 120,192 cancellations. That is, the difference between those who arrived and those who left was 37,957 in favor of the group of those who left the city and went to another Spanish town. The majority went to other municipalities in the Community of Madrid and to the provinces of Toledo, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Guadalajara. And where do those who moved to Madrid come from? First of the municipalities near the capital and then Barcelona, Toledo, Valencia, Málaga and Alicante.
Growth in the Southeast
The district that is growing the most in the number of registered residents is Vicálvaro (2,627 new registrations), southeast of the capital and where the majority of buildings are being built. It is followed by Villa de Vallecas (1,047 more) and Barajas (74). On the other hand, where the registered population decreases the most is in the Center (4,549 fewer), Ciudad Lineal (3,741 fewer people) and Salamanca (3,540 fewer people). In total, there were more than 111,000 changes of address within the municipality to another district of the capital.
As for the most populated districts, Carabanchel continues to lead, with 278,090 inhabitants, and is followed by Puente de Vallecas, with 257,924, Fuencarral-El Pardo, which has 256,037, and Latina, with 251,139 people. Almost 30% of the city’s population lives in these four areas. At the bottom are Vicálvaro (97,860 inhabitants), despite the increase in registrations, Moratalaz (94,405) and Barajas (50,613).
