Spain's over-65 population tops 10 million for the first time, 20.7% of total

A record number of older residents

On 1 January 2025 Spain had 10,178,625 people aged 65 or over, 20.7% of the population. That was 250,257 more than a year earlier, a rise of 2.5%, and the first time the group passed 10 million. The figures come from the report 'Un perfil de las personas mayores en España, 2026', prepared by the Population Department of the Institute of Economy, Geography and Demography (IEGD-CSIC) and presented on Tuesday, 3 November. Between 1975 and 2025 the share of people aged 65 and over doubled, from 10.2% to 20.7%. Projections put the group above 16 million in 2046, close to 30% of the total, if the demographic assumptions used hold.

1975

10.2 %

2025

20.7 %

Data from the article text

Who is aging fastest

The oldest age groups have grown fastest. People aged 80 and over have quadrupled since 1975, and nonagenarians have grown more than ninefold in the same five decades, which the report describes as over-aging. Centenarians rose 7.1% in a single year, from 15,911 in 2024 to 17,038 in 2025, and about eight in ten of them are women. The report counted 3,021 centenarians in 1981. The average age of the population climbed from 33 in 1975 to 44.55 in 2025, and it is 2.5 years higher among women because they live longer.

19813,021

202415,911

202517,038

1981

3021 people

2024

15911 people

2025

17038 people

Data from the article text

Julio Pérez Díaz, a demographer at IEGD-CSIC and the report's coordinator, said that old age has changed sharply. He noted that today's older generations are the first to have gone through secondary education, while earlier cohorts often had only primary schooling or none.

“Old age is not a plague. Reaching 65 today is very different from what it meant for earlier generations.”

He added that people born now are expected to live much longer on average.

“Average life expectancy is going to be far higher than today and will probably reach 100 years.”

He cautioned that it remains to be seen whether public administrations are ready for an aging population, while individuals themselves, in his view, already are.

Health, housing and online use

The report notes that a longer life does not mean every extra year is lived in good health. Most older Spaniards own the home they live in, yet 56.6% of households headed by someone aged 65 or over live in homes built before 1981. Among those households, 20.7% have made energy-efficiency improvements in the past five years, while another 30.3% say they need them but have not carried them out. Of the owners who need upgrades and have not made them, 74.1% name cost as the main barrier. Daily internet use among people aged 65 to 74 rose from 70.5% in 2024 to 75.0% in 2025, which Pérez said puts Spain above the European Union average.

Retirement planning and purchasing power

A Caja Ingenieros study, the Standard Life Longevity Study, found that eight in ten people over 50 plan their future by underestimating their real life expectancy, which leads them to calculate a shorter retirement than they will have. According to INE data, a 65-year-old woman has 23.7 years of additional life expectancy and a man has 19.9 years. Some 21% of citizens admit they do not know which life expectancy to use and pick one at random.

Women23.7

Men19.9

Women

23.7 years

Men

19.9 years

Data from the article text

Inflation also erodes retirement income. The Spanish CPI rose 4.33% over the past five years and 2.92% over the past ten. A fixed income of 1,000 euros per month set in September 2006 and never updated would have lost 35% of its real value by 2026, equivalent to about 651 euros today. With an annual 1% increase, the loss would be 20.6%, equivalent to 794 euros in current money.