One in five Barcelona metro residents is over 65

One in five people living in the Barcelona metropolitan area was aged 65 or over in 2025, according to L’AMB en Xifres 2026. La metròpoli en 100 indicadors, a report by the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), the metropolitan public authority.

The figure matters for local residents because the report identifies both older people and young people as the groups with the highest levels of loneliness. It also records weaker day-to-day neighbourly support among tenants than among owner-occupiers, as renting has become more common.

“The metropolitan area has aged with some intensity,” the AMB report states.

Foreign-national population reaches 21.3%

The report says 21.3% of the metropolitan population has foreign nationality, a rise of 32.4% over 15 years. It also found that 15% of residents said they had experienced discrimination at some point, with origin identified as one of the relevant grounds.

People aged 65 and over accounted for 20% of the metropolitan population in 2025.
Employment in AMB municipalities stood at 1.94 million, with services accounting for 86.8% of jobs.
Industry represented 8.4% of employment and construction 4.8%.

AMB said the metropolitan area has lost population weight relative to Catalonia as a whole, while becoming less unequal.

Renting is linked to fewer neighbourly exchanges

The Institut Metròpoli, a research institute whose findings are included in the report, said home ownership has given way to a rise in renting in recent years. Rental contracts fell by 8% in 2025 compared with 2024, while home sales rose by 6%.

According to the study, 18.3% of owner-occupiers said they exchanged favours with neighbours, compared with 12.2% of tenants. The report associates the long-term growth of renting with changes in neighbourhood ties and coexistence.

Temporary contracts fall, but remain more numerous

Temporary contracts continued to decline in 2025 and represented 57.4% of all contracts, down from levels above 80% before Spain’s 2022 labour reform. Permanent contracts remained above their pre-reform level despite being slightly below the 2024 total.

516,570 permanent contracts were registered in 2025: 276,908 signed by men and 239,662 by women.
695,712 temporary contracts were registered: 322,104 signed by men and 373,608 by women.
Men signed more permanent contracts over the 2016–2025 period, while women signed more temporary contracts.

The AMB report records 1.94 million jobs across its municipalities in 2025, with services remaining the area’s main source of employment.

Reported by elcontrapunt.cat.