Malaga province's population increased by 35,000 in 2022, mainly fuelled by foreigners

Malaga province's population growth accelerated last year thanks to its continued attraction to the foreign population. Malaga gained more inhabitants than all the other Andalusian provinces combined: 34,577, reaching a new population record of 1,751,927.

The second largest increase was in Almeria, with 13,598, less than half the number of new residents in Malaga. Put together, the other seven provinces of the region saw a combined population growth of 30,606 last year. The data, included in a new statistical series called continuous population statistics, was published this week by Spain's national statistics institute (INE).

In the national ranking, Malaga ranked as the fifth province that grew the most in population last year, behind Madrid (+120,901), Barcelona (+88,592), Alicante (+48,971) and Valencia (+48,671). As a whole, Spain gained 562,874 inhabitants, a significant growth that contrasts with the small increase of 50,490 residents registered in 2021 (a year in which Malaga was the exception and became the province that gained the most population in the whole country).

In the case of Malaga, the population increase has also intensified in the last year, since in 2021 it was 20,652 inhabitants and in 2022 it has been 34,577. It is the highest growth achieved by the province in a single year since 2008. And it has reached these figures thanks to the foreign population: eighty-five per cent of the new residents attracted to the province in 2022 are of foreign nationality.

By age, the greatest gain in population in the province of Malaga has come from the 40 to 65 age group, with 13,795 new residents registered throughout 2022. The next largest age group is the over-65s, with 9,422. This group is also the one with the strongest proportional growth: 2.1%. This is followed by the 20 to 39 age group, with an increase of 7,093 people, and finally the 0 to 19 age group gained 4,267.

The statistics also show the evolution of the population in the first quarter of this year. In the case of Malaga province, growth was maintained, although at a less intense rate than last year. Between 1 January and 1 April, the province has added 5,724 inhabitants, reaching a population of 1,757,651. As happened last year, this increase is greater than all other Andalusian provinces put together. And, once again, it is the foreign population that acts as the driving force of demographic growth, contributing 90 per cent of the new residents.

The continuous population statistics released by the INE will allow for a much more updated knowledge of the demographic evolution in Spain, since it will provide a provisional estimate of the evolution of the population every quarter.

New revised population series since 2012 have also been released, with definitive data consistent with those of the 2021 population census.

From January 2021 the figures are provisional and will be consolidated with the publication of each new census.