Thread: British expats in Spain

Does anyone know how many British expats there are in Spain? I am doing some research for a paper and needed to get some figures about the number of Brits relocated to Spain in the last 10-30 years...

Firstly good afternoon and welcome to the site I hope you find it useful and friendly.

I found some info will send you a link.

Not all the Brits living in Spain are registered with the authorities though, so you will only be able to get a rough estimate.

We've been here for 8 years and on the evidence I have gleaned I would say that less than 50% of resident British people bother to register their presence..which I think is pathetic and devious. Good Luck with your research.

I would say check out the town hall records (padrons) but lots of people aren't even padron registered.

The Spanish registry (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas) has it at around 380,000 Brits living in Spain (i.e., as said above... Brits on the town hall registers... the 'padrón'). Of course, there's a lot of people who don't bother to register.
The Foreign Office reckons there are between 750,000 and one million Brits living in Spain.
Registering on the padrón is important as it helps the community in its reception of funding from the Govt and in getting extra school-teachers, local police, doctors and so on. Also, those Euriopeans on the padrón also get the right to vote in local and European elections.

You need to be on the padron, not only to vote in local and EC elections (I believe only Spanish Citizens can vote in National Elections) but also in my area for residents to register with a Doctor, use the public library, and be entitled to free Spanish lessons. Those that are not resident but have holiday properties are also encouraged to register.

This does not happen in all areas, Orihuela Costa being one....

CD

Heres a start on numbers.. Torrevieja, Alicante have 105,000 residents on their Padron. Just over half the population are Foreign residents. (121 different nationalities) Of these, approximately 13,000 are British.

CD