SummaryThe aging of the world population is an indicator of improving health worldwide. In developed countries, increased longevity has been accompanied by a so-called "compression of morbidity", that is, although people live longer, they do not spend more years suffering a poor health status. However, hip fracture itself may reduce life expectancy in almost two years and one in five patients will require permanent health care. Epidemiological studies reporting the incidence of hip fracture in Spain are numerous. In most cases, they are retrospective and short-term studies, and their results have shown variations across regions. The overall incidence of hip fracture in our country, in subjects older than 65 years, have varied between 301 and 897/10 5 inhabitants, lower figures than reported in other European countries or in the USA. In this paper, we critically review the main published studies in Spain on the incidence of hip fracture.