Provinces of Spain by population

Name: Provinces of Spain by population, 2016
Creator: Instituto Nacional de Estadística
License: INE reuse terms (attribution required)

Madrid province had the highest population of 52 provinces in 2016, at 6.47 million. Ceuta province had the lowest, at 84,519. The median was 611,427 and the figure for Spain was 46.56 million. Source: the Instituto Nacional de Estadística.

Highest6,466,996Madrid province

Lowest84,519Ceuta province

Median611,42752 provinces

Spain46,557,008History

All provinces, 2016

CSV Chart (SVG)

persons. Source: INE. Retrieved 2026-10-07.

Full ranking

Rank	Provinces	2016 persons	Change on 2015
1	Madrid province	6,466,996	+0.5%
2	Barcelona province	5,542,680	+0.3%
3	Valencia province	2,544,264	0%
4	Seville province	1,939,775	-0.1%
5	Alicante province	1,836,459	-1%
6	Málaga province	1,629,298	0%
7	Murcia province	1,464,847	-0.2%
8	Cádiz province	1,239,889	-0%
9	Biscay province	1,147,576	-0.1%
10	A Coruña province	1,122,799	-0.4%
11	Balearic Islands province	1,107,220	+0.2%
12	Las Palmas province	1,097,800	-0.1%
13	Asturias province	1,042,608	-0.8%
14	Santa Cruz de Tenerife province	1,004,124	+0.2%
15	Zaragoza province	950,507	-0.6%
16	Pontevedra province	944,346	-0.3%
17	Granada province	915,392	-0.2%
18	Tarragona province	792,299	-0.4%
19	Córdoba province	791,610	-0.5%
20	Girona province	753,576	+0.1%
21	Gipuzkoa province	717,832	+0.1%
22	Almería province	704,297	+0.4%
23	Toledo province	688,672	-0.7%
24	Badajoz province	684,113	-0.4%
25	Jaén province	648,250	-0.9%
26	Navarre province	640,647	0%
27	Cantabria province	582,206	-0.5%
28	Castellón province	579,245	-0.5%
29	Valladolid province	523,679	-0.5%
30	Huelva province	519,596	-0.1%
31	Ciudad Real province	506,888	-1.3%
32	León province	473,604	-1.2%
33	Lleida province	434,041	-0.5%
34	Cáceres province	403,665	-0.6%
35	Albacete province	392,118	-0.6%
36	Burgos province	360,995	-0.8%
37	Lugo province	336,527	-0.8%
38	Salamanca province	335,985	-1%
39	Álava province	324,126	+0.1%
40	La Rioja province	315,794	-0.4%
41	Ourense province	314,853	-1.1%
42	Guadalajara province	252,882	-0.3%
43	Huesca province	221,079	-0.8%
44	Cuenca province	201,071	-1.4%
45	Zamora province	180,406	-1.7%
46	Palencia province	164,644	-0.8%
47	Ávila province	162,514	-1.5%
48	Segovia province	155,652	-1.2%
49	Teruel province	136,977	-1.4%
50	Soria province	90,040	-1.1%
51	Melilla province	86,026	+0.5%
52	Ceuta province	84,519	+0.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Resident population. Spain and the EU: 1 January, with Spanish figures from the official municipal register (Padrón). United States: Census Bureau population estimates for 1 July. Other countries and the World: World Bank mid-year estimates, which count all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

For Denmark, Statistics Denmark counts the registered resident population on 1 January. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are excluded. The annual series selects the first-quarter reference date from FOLK1A. The World Bank series exists for every country, so use it (through compare) to rank countries on one basis.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the provinces are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Cifras oficiales de población de los municipios españoles: Revisión del Padrón municipal (tabla 29005). https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=29005. Retrieved 2026-10-07.

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Questions

Which province has the highest population?

Madrid province, with 6.47 million in 2016, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística.

Which province has the lowest population?

Ceuta province, with 84,519 in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Cifras oficiales de población de los municipios españoles: Revisión del Padrón municipal (tabla 29005). Retrieved 2026-10-07.