Idescat, Catalonia's official statistics institute, recorded 3,796,075 Social Security contributors in July 2026, 117,295 more than in July 2025, a year-on-year rise of 3.2%.
The figures are allocated by each contributor's registered municipality of residence. For residents and local businesses, they provide a July measure of the number of people living in each area who were recorded in the Social Security system, rather than a count of workplaces in that municipality.
All Catalan comarcas, the county-level areas used for official statistics, and Aran recorded annual growth. At municipal level, contributor numbers rose or were unchanged in 817 municipalities, 86% of the total, while they fell in 130.
L'Hospitalet and Santa Coloma led growth among larger towns
Every Catalan municipality with more than 50,000 residents recorded an annual increase in contributors in July. Idescat's July release put L'Hospitalet de Llobregat first among them, with growth of 5.5%, followed by Vic and Santa Coloma de Gramenet, both at 4.2%, and Manresa at 4.1%.
The region-wide total nevertheless fell by 13,220 people, or 0.3%, compared with June. The largest relative monthly falls were in Bages and Anoia, both down 1.5%, while Aran rose 7.3% and Pallars Sobirà rose 5.0%.
Growth was stronger among younger, older and foreign contributors
According to the same official dataset, the July year-on-year change included:
- 48,580 more women contributors, a 2.8% increase, and 68,715 more men contributors, up 3.5%.
- A 6.1% increase among contributors aged under 30 and a 5.0% rise among those aged 55 and over.
- A 13.1% increase in foreign-national contributors across Catalonia, compared with 0.9% for Spanish-national contributors.
Idescat recorded 3,969,185 Social Security affiliations in July, up 3.1% on a year earlier. This is a separate measure from contributors because one person can have more than one affiliation.
Primary sources: idescat.cat, Idescat News.
