56.3% of Madrid's under-45s are foreign-origin, claim says

A calculation circulating on social media claims that in 2026, 56.3% of the population under 45 in Madrid would be of foreign origin. This is an attributed figure, not official data, and it does not equate to foreign nationality.

The number is attributed to España Atlas, a data visualization project, and refers to people of foreign origin, not those holding foreign citizenship. This distinction matters: a child born in Madrid to migrant parents may hold Spanish nationality yet still count as having a foreign background depending on how the indicator is constructed.

## What the 56.3% measures and what it excludes

The percentage refers to residents under 45 in the city of Madrid, not the autonomous community or Spain as a whole. The source is a calculation spread on social networks, not a statistic published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) or the City Hall.

Foreign origin and foreign nationality are not the same. The former usually includes people born in Spain with at least one parent born abroad; the latter is limited to those holding a passport from another country. Without the exact methodology, the 56.3% figure cannot be compared with official foreign population statistics.

## Why the data is read as a warning

The message accompanying the spread adds a layer not contained in the figure itself: the idea that much of this population would actually be tourists. This is a claim unsupported by the original calculation. Tourism is measured by overnight stays and arrivals, not by the municipal register.

The distinction between resident, visitor, and person in an irregular situation blurs when a figure is shared without methodology. Hence, demographic structure data ends up functioning as an argument about pressure on services or housing. The calculation says nothing about that.

Any interpretation of the figure regarding migration policy or public spending should rely on official population statistics and the indicator's methodology.