Editing Bilbao (section)

== Demographics ==
{{Historical populations|1842|10234|1857|17923|1877|35227|1887|51314|1900|81956|1910|92116|1920|115014|1930|156920|1940|192351|1950|216417|1960|294174|1970|405908|1981|433115|1991|369839|2001|349972|2011|351356|2021|345749|source=[[National Statistics Institute (Spain)|INE]]<ref>{{cite web|title=INEbase. Alterations to the municipalities in the Population Censuses since 1842|url=https://www.ine.es/intercensal/inicio.do|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Spain)|National Statistics Institute]]|language=es}}</ref>}}According to the [[Basque Statistics Office]], the population of Bilbao is 342,397 people as of 2017,<ref name="eustat">{{cite web |url=http://www.eustat.eus/municipal/datos_estadisticos/bilbao_c.html |title=Datos Estadísticos de Bilbao |author=<!--Not stated--> |year=2017 |website=Web Eustat |publisher=[[Basque Statistics Office]] |access-date=18 August 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826183010/http://www.eustat.eus/municipal/datos_estadisticos/bilbao_c.html |url-status=live }}</ref> distributed on a land area of {{convert|40.59|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}, making Bilbao the largest city by population of the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Autonomous Community]] and of the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]] as a whole. Bilbao makes the main component of the [[Bilbao metropolitan area]], with a population of 1,037,847 people.

The first credible data on the population of Bilbao are post-1550.<ref name="earlypop">[[#gom79|Gómez Piñeiro 1979]]: 96</ref> It is known that in 1530 [[Biscay]] had approximately 65,000 inhabitants, a number that could have been reduced by [[Plague (disease)|plagues]] that struck the city in 1517, 1530, 1564–68, and 1597–1601, the last being especially devastating.<ref name="earlypop"/> This trend for periodic reverses in population growth was maintained until the nineteenth century. Since then, Bilbao has experienced an exponential growth in population thanks to industrialisation. After a peak of 433,115 inhabitants in 1982, the municipalities of the [[Txorierri]] valley were removed from Bilbao, with the corresponding loss of their population.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bilbao.net/castella/relaciones_ciudadanas/publicaciones/bilbao_en_cifras/2007/demografia.pdf | title = Evolución de la Población de Bilbao 1900 – 2007 | publisher = Bilbao City Council | year = 2007 | access-date = 17 September 2008 | archive-date = 1 October 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091001170943/http://www.bilbao.net/castella/relaciones_ciudadanas/publicaciones/bilbao_en_cifras/2007/demografia.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

Spanish is the most spoken language in the city, followed by [[Basque language]]. According to the city government of Bilbao, at least 51% of the population can speak "some Basque",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bilbao.net/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=3000054794&language=es&pageid=3000054794&pagename=Bilbaonet%2FPage%2FBIO_contenidoFinal |title=La situación del euskera en Bilbao |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Bilbao City Hall |access-date=18 August 2018 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184803/http://bilbao.net/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=3000054794&language=es&pageid=3000054794&pagename=Bilbaonet%2FPage%2FBIO_contenidoFinal |url-status=live }}</ref> while 29% consider themselves to be fluent.<ref name="eustat" />

=== Migration ===
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Largest groups of foreign born people in Bilbao<ref>{{cite web|title=Bilbao Datasheet 2012|url=https://www.bilbao.eus/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadername2=pragma&blobheadervalue1=attachment%3B+filename%3DInmigraci%C3%B3n+extranjera+en+Bilbao+2012.pdf&blobheadervalue2=public&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1273859938604&ssbinary=true|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731132639/https://www.bilbao.eus/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadername2=pragma&blobheadervalue1=attachment%3B+filename%3DInmigraci%C3%B3n+extranjera+en+Bilbao+2012.pdf&blobheadervalue2=public&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1273859938604&ssbinary=true|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!Nationality || Population (2019) 
|-
|{{flag|Colombia}} || 5,866
|-
|{{flag|Bolivia}} || 4,069
|-
|{{flag|Morocco}} ||3,424
|-
|{{flag|Romania}} || 2,133
|-
|{{flag|Venezuela}} || 2,016
|-
|{{flag|China}} || 1,880
|-
|{{flag|Paraguay}} ||1,877
|-
|{{flag|Ecuador}} ||1,815
|-
|{{flag|Algeria}} ||1,267
|-
|{{flag|Brazil}} || 1,162
|-
|{{flag|Peru}} || 983
|}
Out of the 355,731 people residing in Bilbao in 2009, only 114,220 (32.1%) were born inside the municipality. Of the remainder, 114,908 were born in other Biscayan towns, while 9,545 were born in the other two Basque provinces; 85,789 came from the rest of Spain (mainly [[Castile-León]] and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]), and 33,537 were foreigners.<ref name="demo09">{{cite web | url = http://www.bilbao.net/castella/relaciones_ciudadanas/publicaciones/bilbao_en_cifras/2009/demografia.pdf | title = Población según lugar de nacimiento, sexo y edad | year = 2009 | publisher = Bilbao City Council | access-date = 31 October 2010 | archive-date = 25 July 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110725125217/http://www.bilbao.net/castella/relaciones_ciudadanas/publicaciones/bilbao_en_cifras/2009/demografia.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> There are 127 different nationalities registered in Bilbao, although 60 of them represent fewer than 10 people each.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bilbao.net/castella/accion_social/publicaciones/inmigracion_iii/documento_completo.pdf | title = Inmigración extranjera en Bilbao | date = 1 January 2007 | publisher = Bilbao City Council | access-date = 31 October 2010 | archive-date = 25 July 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110725125339/http://www.bilbao.net/castella/accion_social/publicaciones/inmigracion_iii/documento_completo.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> The largest foreign communities are Bolivians and Colombians, with 4,879 and 3,730 respectively. Other nationalities with more than 1,000 inhabitants are Romanians (2,248), Moroccans (2,058), Ecuadorians (1,832), Chinese (1,390), Brazilians (1,273) and Paraguayans, with 1,204.<ref name="demo09"/>