Foreigners in Spain

• Over the last 22 years approximately 5.000.000 foreigners moved to Spain to live.
• From the year 2000 to 2007 around 3.600.000 people immigrated to Spain.
• A total of 1.700.000 to 2.300.000 people from the Northwest of Europe live in Spain.

According to the Spanish government, there were 4,519,554 foreign residents in Spain in January 2007. Spain has the second highest immigration rates within the EU. The reasons are varied: geographical position, the economy, the development of the agricultural and construction sectors, and especially the climate. It’s obvious that the more foreigners live in Spain, the more business people come to Spain starting new businesses in all sectors. Immigrants from the European Union make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spain. Spain is the most favored destination for Western Europeans considering moving from their own country and seeking jobs or starting a business elsewhere in the EU; we estimate: around 20-25 % for retirement.

The official statistic published in January 2008 tells us about 2007: Spain has now (31.12.2007) 46.063.511 inhabitants from which 5.220.577 are foreigners. The immigrated population is now 11.3% of the total residents in Spain. In the year 2007 the amount of new foreigners has been 701.023 people. Compared to 2006 we observe another significant increase of foreign residents in Spain.

TABLE 1

The British authorities estimate that the real population of UK citizens living in Spain is much bigger than Spanish official figures suggest, establishing them at about 1.000.000 being more or less permanently residents. Insiders establish in general the official figures 35-60% higher including people from the EU living at least 6-8 months per year in Spain.

TABLE 2

The major populations of immigrants are the Moroccans with over half a million, the Ecuadorians with around half a million, the Romanians with 300.000, the Colombians also with 300.000; followed by the nationalities mentioned above in the lists.

Other Countries with insignificant growth the last year

TABLE 3

The most significant nationalities from the North of Western Europe:

TABLE 4

Most of the Northern EU citizens live in the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. We estimate that in total around 1.7m to 2.3m live in Spain; including those who live at least around 5-8 months in Spain.

TABLE 5

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