The boost in tourism has once again placed Catalonia above the Community of Madrid in the register of Social Security affiliates, after three months of Madrid leadership. , corresponding to the month of March, indicate that Catalonia has 3,882,774 members, 3,354 more than Madrid, which has 3,879,420 members. That Catalonia surpassed Madrid in affiliates was the norm since the current records began to be recorded in January 1999. But this trend, a change in trend that has continued for two more months. The situation is now reversing again, mainly due to the boost in tourism due to Holy Week, but experts believe that it is punctual, and that, in the long run, the overtaking Madrid will have continuity in the future.
For Manuel Alejandro Hidalgo, professor of Applied Economics at the Pablo de Olavide University, the latest monthly record will not change a background trend that is already well established. “The March data is a specific fact. Catalonia has a very diverse productive structure, but the seasonality of tourism affects it. Tourism adds a lot of employment, but then not everything is maintained,” he explains. Javier Vázquez-Grenno, professor at the University of Barcelona and researcher at the Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB), also believes that it is a circumstantial fact: “Catalonia had always been on top, but in recent years the distance had been reducing. What happened in March is circumstantial, because what has grown the most in members in Catalonia is tourism, especially in Girona and Tarragona. It may be that it continues during the summer, but everything suggests that the trend Madrid’s leadership will continue.”
Beyond the monthly data, the important question is the way in which Madrid has managed to gain ground in membership, until it was ahead last December. A position that in the long run, according to experts, will be recovered to consolidate it.
Catalonia has 8.15 million inhabitants, one million more than the Community of Madrid, which has 7.13 million. This greater volume of inhabitants in the Catalan community, added to the historical strength of its industry and tourism, has traditionally meant that Catalonia has always been ahead both in Social Security affiliates and in contribution to national wealth. But this norm began to break in the second decade of the millennium.
In this last variable, that of produced wealth, the Community of Madrid surpassed Catalonia years ago. Since 2000, when the Madrid economy was 7.5% lower than the Catalan economy, the gap closed until 2012, when Madrid surpassed Catalonia for the first time, and then again in 2017, in the midst of the independence process, from which point onwards the economy of the capital region has always been ahead of the Catalan economy. It can also be seen in the proportion with respect to the total, even last year, although by a narrow margin: in 2025, according to statistical advances, Catalonia contributed 19.86% of Spanish GDP, while the Community of Madrid contributed 19.96%.
In affiliation with Social Security, the overtaking It took longer to arrive. In the first record of the historical series, in January 1999, Catalonia had 2.54 million members, compared to 2.06 in the Community of Madrid. Catalan leadership in membership was uninterrupted until December 2025, when Madrid had 7,607 more members than Catalonia. The first position was also maintained by Madrid in January of this year (when it registered 18,100 more affiliates) and in February (when there were 7,342 more).
“This evolution is explained more by what Madrid does than by what Catalonia fails to do,” explains Hidalgo. “Due to its location and the effect of being the capital, although this no longer plays such an important role, Madrid absorbs a lot of employment, the start of new activities, direct investment. These are very large magnitudes compared to its population weight,” he adds. “Madrid is a kind of funnel for other regions, such as Andalusia or Extremadura, which lose employees, especially qualified ones, who go there,” exemplifies the professor, although this does not happen with Catalonia, because it has incentives that retain them, such as high salaries and a low unemployment rate.
“It is a structural issue, Madrid is an economy that has grown a lot, also in tourism, particularly that which is not seasonal. It is one,” says Vázquez, who lists the strengths of the central community: the capital effect on public employment, although this has not changed much, the attraction of foreign companies and new technology companies, attracted by low taxation, and Madrid’s commitment to competing in things that were previously more identified with Barcelona, such as Formula 1.
Although the underlying trends point to a dominance of the Community of Madrid, that does not mean that Catalonia cannot once again be in first place in the contribution of affiliates. And there tourism plays an important role. “Catalonia does not depend exclusively on tourism, it is not like the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands. But it does see a boost in employment, at times. It is a differential effect that Madrid does not have,” says Hidalgo.
