Alex Trelinski
ALICANTE province’s registered non-Spanish population has passed the half-a-million mark for the first time.
Figures from the National Institute of Statistics(INE) for the first quarter of 2025 confirmed there were 501,684 foreign residents in the area.
That’s an annual rise of 30,539 people and nearly 9,000 more than in the last three months of 2024.
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80% of the annual increase is down to non-Spaniards but there is no breakdown of the various nationalities.
It means that over a quarter of the population comes from outside Spain with the total figure being 2,038,784.
The population overall has risen by 9,571 compared to the previous three months, with the vast bulk of the rise attributed to non-Spaniards.
Alicante has the fourth-highest population in the country, ahead of Sevilla, but behind Valencia.
In terms of foreign residents, it is only behind the Barcelona and Madrid areas.
In general terms, the majority of Alicante’s population is concentrated in the 40 to 64 years old age bracket.
Like in other parts of Spain, there is an issue with ageing population.
There are are 429,235 people over 65 years of age compared to 381,371 young minors.
Even more dramatic is that there are more people over 80 years of age than children aged four years and under.
