No great escape as more expats settle

MORE EU citizens moved to the Costa del Sol last year than left.

Despite foreign and local Press reports claiming there had been a great expatriate escape, new official figures prove otherwise.

In fact, while 1,820 EU citizens and 5,250 South Americans said adios to living here in 2011, in the same period 8,445 citizens from the EU moved to Malaga Province to live, plus 2,495 from South America and 2,873 from Africa.

This in total means 13,813 expatriates moved to the region to make it their home last year.

During the same period, National Institute of Statistics figures reveal that of the 15,365 residents who left the region, 2,414 of them were Spanish.

Therefore, reports of an expatriate exodus were merely a myth, for while 12,951 expatriates departed, 13,813 moved to the region to make it their home.

Of the arriving EU citizens, almost 1,270 were over the age of 65, while 5,879 were aged between 18 and 64.

Meanwhile, most of the those leaving, regardless of nationality, were aged between 27 and 36, and left in search of work.

Despite the number of people leaving the province almost doubling compared to 2010, Malaga still attracted more than 19,300 new residents in 2011.

By Jennifer Leighfield