Foreign enrolment grows by more than 7% in the last year to 3,090,000 contributors on average

Social Security recorded 3,067,780 foreign natural insurance contributors in September, discounting calendar effects. For yet another month, the number of workers from other countries exceeds three million, after adding over 200,000 employed in the last 12 months (202,694), which represents a +7.07% year-on-year variation.

In the original series, average contribution, the number of workers from other countries is 3,088,341, which represents a growth of +7.1% year-on-year, almost five points above the total number of contributors as a whole, which has experienced an increase of +2.4% in the last year.

The autonomous communities leading the growth are Asturias (20.8%), Galicia (14.8%) and Castile and León (13%), which in turn had the highest average age in Spain in 2024 according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

In any case, the number of foreign contributors, which on average represents 14.2% of the total number of contributors, is 7.3% in Asturias, 10.4% in Castile and León, and 7% in Galicia.

"Employment among foreigners is growing above average thanks to their age structure, especially in the autonomous communities where it is most needed, which is excellent news", says Minister Elma Saiz.

On the other hand, women now account for 43.2% of all foreign workers, with 1,333,863 foreign female contributors in the system.

General system

In line with the situation of native workers, 83.9% of foreign contributors are included in the General Social Security Scheme, at 2,591,246 workers.

They are particularly important in the hotel and catering industry, where they account for one out of every three employed persons (29.7% of the contributors), but also in agriculture (26.2%), construction (22.5%) and in administrative activities and transport, where they account for over 17% of the workers.

As an indicator of the diversification of occupations by the group, its growth in ever increasing industries can be seen. This is the case for Transport, where their presence has grown by 31.6%, Water Supply (14%), Commerce (12.1%), Financial Activities (8.3%), Administrative Activities (7.7%), Health Care Activities (7.3%), and Professional and Scientific-Technical Activities (5.7%).

Morocco, with over 350,000 contributors, is the largest contributor, followed by Romania (337,000) and Colombia (253,000).

Record growth of foreign self-employed contributors

The number of self-employed contributors from other countries reached a new peak in September: 490,717 people, 6.8% more than a year ago. Its growth is well above the average for all contributors, which grew by 1.1%.

This growth is even more relevant in highly qualified industries: in the last year, the number of self-employed foreign workers has increased by 27.9% in Information and Communications, by 24.3% in Energy Supply and by 18.5% in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities.

Non official translation