- The number of foreign contributors in the region amounts to 623,374, 4.21% more than in January 2025
- In the system as a whole, foreign workers already represent 14.1% of the total social security contributions
Social Security registered 623,374 foreign affiliates in the Community of Madrid in January, 1.27% less than the previous month, in line with the trend of the months of January. In the year-on-year comparison, the figure represents a growth of 4.21%, so the region begins the year with 25,169 foreign affiliates more than a year ago.
By contribution system, 87.38% contribute to the General Social Security System, with the most representative sectors being Hospitality (14.18%); Commerce (13.13%); and Construction (9.9%). As in the national panorama, there is a growing contribution to sectors with higher qualifications such as Scientific and Technical Activities (6.11%); Telecommunications and Computer Programming (5.6%); or Health and Social Services Activities (5.04%).
For its part, the number of foreign self-employed members in the region stood at 78,580 workers in January, 12.61% of the total. In this group, the sectors of activity with the most representation are Construction (17.70%; Commerce (22.81%); Hospitality (10.54%) and Transport and Storage (10.18%).
As for the countries of origin, 164,395 come from European Union countries, with Romania, Italy and Portugal having the highest representation. ; while 380,310 come from outside the European Union, with Venezuela, Colombia and Peru, as the three most numerous nationalities among foreign contributors in the region.
Data at the national level
The Social Security registered in January 3,038,158 foreign affiliates in the original series, after adding 195,129 affiliates in the last 12 months and around 800,000, compared to January 2022, with the labor reform already in force. In month-on-month terms, Social Security records 47,319 fewer people employed.
In the system as a whole, foreign workers already represent 14.1% of the total number of contributors to Social Security, six tenths more than a year ago. Apart from seasonality and the calendar effect, in the last month, the number of employed people from other countries increased by 23,309, to 3,158,890 members.
Of the total number of foreign affiliates, 3,038,158, about 1.7 million are men, while the number of women stands at almost 1.3 million. The presence of working women from other countries represents 42.6% of the total number of foreign workers.
About 30% of foreign affiliates come from European Union countries.
Among the different nationalities, workers from Venezuela are the fastest growing group in the last year, 34,651 members more than the previous year (+19.7%). They are followed by people from Colombia, with 28,890 more members (+13.3%) and Morocco, with an increase of 26,396 workers (+7.7%). On the other hand, Morocco is the country from which the largest group of Social Security affiliates comes, with 369,584 contributors, followed by Romania (331,107), Colombia (245,960), Venezuela (210,984), Italy (201,477), China (126,907), Peru (99.459) and Ukraine (77,770).
The contribution of foreign workers is particularly relevant in some sectors of the General Social Security System. In Hospitality, they represent 28.9% of the members; in Agriculture, 26.4%; in Construction, they represent 23.5%; in Transport, 17.6%; and in Administrative Activities, 17.4%. Along with these sectors, the presence of foreign workers continues to increase in sectors with higher qualifications such as Telecommunications and Computer Programming (13.7%); Scientific and Technical Activities (10.4%) and Financial Activities (5.6%).
The growth of foreign affiliation is especially significant in self-employment, which in January stood at 496,330 workers, 6.2% more than in 2025. It is worth noting the growing presence of foreign workers who undertake in highly qualified sectors such as Telecommunications and Computer Programming, where they account for 30.8% of the total number of affiliates. Hospitality (25%), Real Estate Activities (19%), Administrative Activities and Construction (both with 17.6%), are the activities that reflect the greater presence of self-employed workers.
Additional information in Excel and on the web: https://w6.seg-social.es/PXWeb/pxweb/es