Over 20% of health card holders are foreigners

Of the million-plus people, 22.8% were non-Spaniards. The largest group - 2.6% - was Moroccan. They were followed by residents from Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Germany (1.37%), the UK (1.36%), Romania, Italy, Bulgaria and Uruguay. Almost 80% of the total were in Majorca.

The figures do not take account of immigrants whose status in the Balearics is "irregular". They receive free health service but have a separate document that is renewed annually and which isn't recognised elsewhere in Spain.

The national government of Mariano Rajoy passed a decree in 2012 which removed the right to a health card for people in an irregular situation. In the Balearics, this meant some 20,000 cards. A priority of the current regional government was to restore the right to a free and universal public health service. Since July 2015 almost 8,000 people have had this right restored.

Between January and July this year a further 23,586 health cards were issued, taking the total to 1,075,497.