We woke up to the news that Japan had just registered a new low in population after a record drop last year, despite the increasing immigration. On the same day, we learned that, precisely due to immigration, Spain is now one step closer to 50 million inhabitants.
As published by the EFE agency, people born outside the Spanish borders contributed to a total population increase of 119,811 during the spring quarter, for a current total of 49,315,949 residents as of July 1 (roughly a month ago).
However, as in Japan, and as published by Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), the number of Spanish-born people declined for another quarter. During the same period, 95,277 foreign nationals were added to the population, bringing the total number of foreign residents to 7,050,174. Meanwhile, 24,534 individuals acquired Spanish nationality, partially offsetting the drop in native-born numbers.
If we compare the annual figures, Spain gained 508,475 citizens in total, when today's news about Japan were talking about a loss of more than 900,000.
With immigration at the heart of global headlines, politics, and debate, these contrasting figures shed light on the differing demographic realities of two very distinct and distant countries (despite their shared love for rice, fish, and flamenco).