Census reveals one in five people living in Malaga province are foreign 

A 2024 population census has shown foreigners make up 23% of the Malaga population- with Brits high in the rankings. 

New figures from the Spanish National Statistics Institute have revealed some 23% of Malaga residents are foreign, accounting for 414,316 out of 1.7 million inhabitants.

It makes Malaga the province with the fifth highest number of foreign residents, following Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Valencia. 

However, the proportion of inhabitants born outside of the country is larger in other areas such as Almeria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (24%), as well as Girona, the Balearic Islands and Alicante (26-27%). 

In all of these areas, the number of residents born outside of Spain surpasses the national average, which is less than 20%. 

While in 35 of Malaga’s 103 municipalities, over 20% of the population is foreign, one area leads the rankings. 

Luxe enclave Benahavis tops the list, with 64% foreign residents, accounting for 5,919 of its 9,265 inhabitants. 

The majority of these are British expats, making up 1,388 of the population, followed by Russians (556). 

It is followed by Fuengirola, with 44.6% foreign residents, mostly made up of Finns and Brits. 

With around 44% inhabitants born outside of Spain, Fuengirola is followed by Competa, Alcaucin and Sayalonga, where 700 of its 1,624 residents are from abroad. 

In Manilva and Torrox, the proportion of foreign residents is 40%, with most coming from Britain, Germany and Morocco. 

Meanwhile in Marbella, around 60,800 of the city’s 159,054 population were born abroad, accounting for 37%.

The biggest community hails from Morocco, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Britain, Ukraine and Russia.

In Mijas, over a third of the town’s 92,211 local residents are foreign (34,700), with mostly Brits (7,193), Moroccans (3,617) and Argentinians. (3,208).

Argentina also ranks highly in Benalmadena, where 28,000 of the town’s 78,000 residents come from outside Spain. 

Some 5,000 people are from the Latin American country, followed by the UK (3,438) and Morocco (2,812). 

In raw numbers, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas and Benalmadena have the highest number of foreign residents, followed by Estepona (33%, 26,000) and Torremolinos (30%, 21,000). 

Despite being smaller towns, Casares, Frigiliana, Canillas de Albaida, Ojen and Archez still have a significant number of inhabitants born outside of Spain, oscillating at around 35%.

In comparison, Monda, Canillas del Aceituno, Cutar, Guaro and Benamargosa have around 25-30% foreign residents. 

Some 34% of the Nerja population was born outside of Spain, with Brits leading the way followed by Argentinians. 

Similarly, Brits are the biggest foreign population in Alhaurin el Grande (2,279) and Coin (1,700). 

On the lower end of the scale, just 15% of the population of Velez-Malaga and Malaga capital are from overseas, with most hailing from Latin America.