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Malaga province has 1.77 million inhabitants, according to the latest data from the annual census of Spain's population for 2024 published by Spain's INE national statistics institute. Of this figure, 414,316 people, or 23% of the total, were born in other countries. This proportion of foreign residents is higher than the total for Spain that is still under 20%: of the total of 48.6 million inhabitants in the country, 8.8 million were born overseas. Malaga province, in absolute numbers, is in fifth place for the highest number of foreign-born residents, behind only Madrid (1.7 million), Barcelona (almost 1.4 million), as well as Alicante and Valencia, where they exceed half a million.
Malaga has a larger foreign population than Seville, despite the fact that the capital of the Andalucía region is more populated than Malaga (it has almost two million inhabitants, of which just over 140,500 are foreigners). In relative terms, Malaga drops a few places in the national ranking: the 23% weighting of its foreign population practically equals that of Lleida, Barcelona and Madrid, while in Almeria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife it is around 24%, and in Girona, the Balearic Islands and Alicante it ranges between 26% and 27%.
Nevertheless, to gain a more accurate picture of what is happening in the province, it is necessary to go down to the municipal level. The proportion of the foreign population varies greatly from one locality to another. This is because the reasons why foreigners move to this province are widely different. For instance, some people come to work here in search of a better future than that offered by their place of origin, as is the case for most people coming from North Africa or Latin America. There are also people fleeing international conflicts, such as those who have arrived from Ukraine. Then there is a third group that is unique to Spain's Mediterranean coast and its archipelagos: the one formed mainly by Europeans who retire here for the better climate and to enjoy living by the sea.
So, to begin with, in more than a third of Malaga's municipalities, in 35 of the 103 in total in the province, residents born in other countries account for at least 20% on the Costa del Sol. Among those places are not only the large towns on the coast, but also small towns further inland. The ranking is headed by Benahavís, where almost 64% of the people on the census were born outside Spain. In absolute terms, of the 9,265 inhabitants of this municipality, only 3,337 are Spanish by birth, compared to 5,919 from other places. Among the latter, the largest group is made up of citizens from the United Kingdom (1,388), followed by Russians (556), while there are around 1,000 from America, mainly from the centre and south of the continent, but also from the United States.
Next, with between 40% and 45% of their population born abroad, there are seven towns of very different sizes. In the first instance we find some very populous ones like Fuengirola, which has a total population of over 85,600 with over 38,200 being foreigners. As to their nationalities, the Finnish and British communities exceed 4,600 apiece, while the Moroccan community numbers over 4,100. In addition, there are around 10,000 Latin American citizens.
Other, smaller, inland municipalities such as Cómpeta, Alcaucín and Sayalonga are in a similar situation. The latter is the smallest of the group: it has just 1,624 residents, of whom more than 700 are of foreign origin - especially British and Germans, who account for around half of this figure.
Manilva and Torrox have a similar proportion of foreign population, some 40%. The former has a population of close to 18,000 inhabitants, of whom more than 7,600 were born in other countries. There, the largest group is also British, with more than 2,200 residents, followed by Moroccans at over 1,000 people, in addition to more than 1,500 from American countries. As for Torrox, of its 21,400 inhabitants slightly more than 9,000 were born in other countries, mainly Germany (1,964), the United Kingdom (1,769), Latin America (more than 1,500), with Moroccans numbering around 950.
With foreign-born populations of around 37%, there are important towns in the province, such as Marbella, Mijas and Benalmádena. The former has a total population of 159,054, of which nearly 60,800 are foreign-born. Of those, the largest community by nation is Moroccan, with 7,708 inhabitants. This is in line with what happens in the province as a whole, where Moroccan is the dominant non-Spanish nationality. That said, Marbella has some 20,300 Latin American residents as a group, with Colombians and Argentines as the most prominent nationalities. To these are added 4,407 British, 4,200 Ukrainians and 3,300 of Russian origin, and those of European origin total over 23,000.
Meanwhile, in Mijas, of its 92,211 registered inhabitants, more than 34,700 are foreigners. The most important non-Spanish nationality here is British (7,193 people that, together with the rest of the people from European countries, exceeds 19,000), followed by those from Morocco (3,617) and Argentina (3,208, a figure that exceeds 9,200 people if all the Latin American countries are added together).
Similarly in Benalmádena, of the 78,000 residents there, over 28,800 were born in other countries, in particular Argentina (almost 5,000), the United Kingdom (3,438, which together with all the other Europeans exceeds 12,350) and Morocco (2,812).
60,793 foreigners living in Marbella
It is the second municipality in the province with the highest density of population born outside Spain.
These four municipalities, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas and Benalmádena are, together with the provincial capital, the ones with the largest number of residents born outside of Spain in absolute numbers. Close behind them are Estepona and Torremolinos with nearly 26,000 and over 21,000 respectively. In Estepona the foreign population represents 33% of the total population on the census. Some 14,000 of these come from European countries, especially the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Russia. For Torremolinos foreigners account for 30% of the total with Moroccans outnumbering all other nationalities, followed by those from Argentina.
There are also smaller municipalities with big numbers of foreigners. In Casares, Frigiliana, Canillas de Albaida, Ojén and Árchez, the foreign population is around 35%. Also in Monda, Canillas del Aceituno, Cútar, Guaro and Benamargosa it ranges between 30% and 25%.
Let us look in a little more detail at other larger towns: in Nerja, Alhaurín el Grande and Coín the proportion of foreign-born residents is 34%, 26% and 24.5% respectively. In Nerja, the two largest communities are British (1,549) and Swedish (1,018), followed by Argentinians (837). Meanwhile, in Alhaurín el Grande, the British are the most prevalent (2,279). In Coín there are around 1,700 people from the United Kingdom, just over 1,200 Moroccans and 1,504 Latin Americans.
15.75% of the residents of Malaga city
were born outside Spain. They number 93,300 and the majority, over 40,500, come from Latin American countries.
Vélez-Málaga is the eighth municipality in Malaga in terms of absolute foreign population with just over 13,200, but in relative terms this figure barely represents 15% of the total population, with the Moroccan nationality standing above the rest. Malaga city has a similar proportion of residents born in other countries: of its slightly more than 592,000 inhabitants, 93,300 are foreign-born, meaning 15.75% of the total population. The majority of these, more than 40,500, come from Latin American countries, then almost 25,000 are from European countries, with Ukraine (almost 6,500) in the lead, and there are over 17,300 Moroccans. Alhaurín de la Torre, another of the most populous municipalities in the province, has around the same numbers as Malaga city, with a foreign population of 15%.
Finally, there are some municipalities where the foreign population is very low. In Cañete la Real, Teba, Cuevas Bajas, Villanueva de Tapia, Sierra de Yeguas, El Bruto, Valle de Abdalajis and Humilladero, the foreign population does not even reach 5% of the total.
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