According to data from the Permanent Immigration Monitoring Center (OPI) under the Spanish Ministry of Social Policy and Migration, as of September 30, 2025, 7,426,481 foreign citizens had valid residence permits in the country. This is 4.5% more than a year earlier.
Of this number, 54% (about 4 million people) are citizens of EU, EFTA, and UK countries who have an EU citizen registration certificate or a TIE foreigner card under the UK’s withdrawal agreement from the EU. The most numerous nationalities in this group are Romanians, Italians, and British: they account for 51% of all European residents.
The Ukrainian community stands out as a separate block in the statistics. According to data based on official statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Social Policy and Migration, as of September 2025, more than 326,000 Ukrainian citizens have a valid residence permit in the country. A significant portion of this number are people who received protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive, introduced after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February 2022.
The growth of the Ukrainian diaspora was particularly sharp in 2022–2023, but slowed significantly in 2024–2025: while the annual increase at the height of the war was measured in triple digits, by the fall of 2025 it had fallen to single digits.
After Brexit, the British remain one of the three largest European communities in Spain, alongside the Romanians and Italians. The official OPI report does not provide the exact number of British citizens in its public summary, but emphasizes that these three nationalities account for more than half of all residents from the EU/EFTA and the UK.
A characteristic detail is the age profile of the British diaspora. The average age of British residents is significantly higher than the average among foreigners and is around 57, reflecting Spain’s popularity as a country for retirees and a “second home” for British citizens.
Thus, by the end of 2025, Spain will remain one of the key EU countries in terms of the number of permanent foreign residents, and the structure of migration will gradually shift: European communities will continue to dominate, but citizens of Ukraine and Latin American countries will play an increasingly important role.
http://relocation.com.ua/more-than-326000-ukrainian-citizens-have-a-valid-residence-permit-in-spain/
RESIDENCE PERMIT, SPAIN, UKRAINE
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