14.01.09 - 15:38 -
Over 85s up nearly 8 per cent
The arrival of people from other countries has pushed up the population in the province of Malaga by 3 per cent. Last year there were 45,738 new inhabitants and almost 70 per cent of them were foreign according to information provided by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
On average the population grew by 3 per cent in 2008 reaching 1,563,261 with the biggest increases being in Mijas and Benalmádena and the smallest in Malaga city and Antequera.
In Mijas the population grew by 9.5 per cent with the number of registered residents going up from 64,288 to 70,437 while in Benalmádena the 7.1 per cent increase saw a jump from 52,217 to 55,950 people living there. At the other end of the scale the increase in Malaga city was only 0.9 per cent (561,250 to 566,477) and in Antequera it was just 1 per cent (44,547 to 45,037).
Of the new residents in the province 30,477 are from other countries and they continue to opt for living in the main tourist towns such as Fuengirola, Torrox, Mijas, Manilva or Benahavís (where more foreigners than Spanish people live) but notably in some small villages such as Viñuela, Sedella, Casares, Cómpeta, Comares and Alcaucín more than 30 per cent of the population is foreign.
