Number of immigrants in Alicante City decreasing

SINCE the economic crisis began the number of foreigners settling in Alicante City has decreased. While this year saw a 0.2 per cent increase in foreigners settling in the city, last year saw a 0.5 per cent decline.

This is a far cry from the 20 per cent annual increase between 2001 and 2005, with a peak in 2002 when the census went from 9,325 to 17,021 foreigners, a rise of 82.5 per cent.

In the three years leading up to 2010 the population grew at a slower rate of 14.3, 12.5 and 5.8 per cent.

Currently, the 51,382 foreign residents on Alicante’s registrar accounts for 18.46 per cent of the population, while in 1997 foreigners represented just 1.5 per cent of the population.

In 1997 the bulk of foreigners in the city were born in France, followed by Argentina, Morocco, Italy, Algeria, Colombia and Ecuador.

Now there are 5,000 Colombians and 4,000 Ecuadorians on Alicante City’s census, despite five per cent of the Colombian and 8.4 per cent of the Ecuadorian colonies returning to their countries last year.

There are 4,064 Moroccans, 3,834 Romanians, 3,504 Algerians, 3,155 Argentineans, 3,005 Italians, and 2,394 French.