Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain
Spain: Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents was 22.5% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain, 1950–2020
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain is 22.5%, measured in 2020. That is the highest value across all 15 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 14.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain peaked at 22.5% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 10.5%, in 1950.
Spain ranks 57th of 180 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 10.9% | 10.5% | 11.3% | 2 |
| 1960s | 12.7% | 12.2% | 13.2% | 2 |
| 1970s | 14.4% | 14.3% | 14.5% | 2 |
| 1980s | 17.6% | 17.5% | 17.6% | 2 |
| 1990s | 18.3% | 17.8% | 18.7% | 2 |
| 2000s | 19.4% | 19.4% | 19.5% | 2 |
| 2010s | 20.4% | 19.6% | 21.2% | 2 |
| 2020s | 22.5% | 22.5% | 22.5% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Spain
More reference data data for Spain
- Spring temperature anomalies -0.1449 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 3.07 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.0798 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 0.423 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 0.3641 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 135.02 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain?
- Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Spain was 22.5% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Spain?
- The highest recorded value was 22.5% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Spain?
- The lowest recorded value was 10.5% in 1950.
- How does Spain rank for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
- Spain ranks 57th out of 180 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents rising or falling in Spain?
- Over the last ten years it is up 14.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Spain data come from?
- The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of the total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.