Foreigners account for 97% of all new Malaga residents

One million, seven hundred, and ninety thousand residents now live in the province of Malaga, according to the latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

That is a growth of 14,402 more since the beginning of 2024, an increase that demonstrates a steeper curve in population increase than ever before, and one that has not stopped rising since the pandemic. The Malaga province has grown by 160,000 in just a decade, and 22.4 percent of them are now those born abroad.

New foreign residents, curiously, accounted for 97 percent of those added to the civil register in the last year, with just 4,874 natural-born Spaniards moving to the province in the last 12 months.

Nearly 10 thousand foreigners registered as residents of Malaga in that short period, and in less than 4 years since COVID restrictions were lifted, it has become clear that there is something about the province that is drawing more and more foreigners.

Of the European population from non-EU countries, now resident in the Malaga province, there is a total of 90,560 from non-EU countries, and from within the EU, 94,376.

On a national level, the population has almost reached 50 million, most of which is attributed to the arrival of people from other shores.

Spain needs foreign residents in order to continue economic growth. The population was on the decline for many years through a mix of the highly educated nationals seeking better-paid work abroad, and a declining birth rate. While many still come to retire, they are spending their pensions in the Spanish economy. While younger immigrants are tending to come for work opportunities and therefore contributing to the future of the economy.