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There were 2.7 million inhabitants in Galicia as of 1 January 2020, distributed over nearly 30,000 km2. This entails a population density of 91.3 inhabitants/km2. From an administrative point of view, Galicia is divided into four provinces –three on the coast (Lugo, Corunna (A Coruña) and Pontevedra), one inland (Ourense)– and 313 municipalities.
The spatial distribution of the population has traditionally been scattered. In fact, even though half of the human settlements in Spain are to be found in this region, Galicia only accounts for 5.7% of the national population, roughly ten times less. A large percentage of the population lives in human settlements that are not the municipal capital, as shown on the chapter on ''[[Population, human settlements and comorbiditycomorbidities|Population, human settlements and comorbiditycomorbidities]]'' (over 20% in the provinces of Lugo and Pontevedra, and even over 70% in some municipalities). It also has a large amount of human settlements per municipality (over 40 on average), what entails a density of over 20 human settlements every 10 km2 in some areas.
Most of the population in Galicia is concentrated around the Atlantic Urban Axis, i.e. the corridor around the AP-9 motorway that connects the main urban areas in Galicia with northern Portugal. This Axis is located in the western part of the region, near the coast. Five of the seven most populated towns in Galicia are located on this corridor: Vigo and Corunna (A Coruña), with 300,000 inhabitants each; Santiago de Compostela with roughly 100,000 inhabitants; Pontevedra with 85,000 inhabitants; and Ferrol with 70,000 inhabitants. The other two major towns in Galicia are Lugo and Ourense, both of which have approximately 100,000 inhabitants and are located in the eastern part of the region, away from this corridor. In addition, a small group of medium-sized towns have sprung up in recent decades within the metropolitan area of some of the larger towns, such as Narón, Arteixo, Ames, etc., with around 30,000-40,000 inhabitants each.
