Madrid, Aug 9 (IANS): Spain's population rose to its highest ever level, with immigrants being the main contributor to the growth, a study published by the country's Statistical Office said.

The quarterly Continuous Population Statistics (ECP) showed that 48,345,223 people were living in Spain on July 1, hitting the highest level ever recorded, thanks to an increase of 135,186 people in the second quarter of 2023. reports Xinhua news agency.

Among the added population were 100,394 people born abroad, lifting the total number of foreign-born residents to 8,457,886.

The majority of immigrants to Spain between April and June were Colombian and Moroccan.

There were also a significant number of Spaniards returning to their homeland after living abroad.

The population in all 17 of Spain's autonomous communities grew, with the Balearic Islands seeing the highest growth of 0.58 per cent, followed by Catalonia (0.51 per cent) and Madrid (0.45 per cent).