Demographics

A quarter of the Balearic population is foreign

Twenty years ago, 13% of the population was foreign. | Josep Bagur Gomila

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma24/04/2020 12:25

On the first of January this year, the population of the Balearics was 1,171,003 - a new record. Almost a quarter of this population, 282,792, were foreign. This reflects the ongoing growth in the size of the population not born in Spain; from 13% in 2000 to just over 24%.

The figures from the National Statistics Institute are based on data from municipality registers. They are provisional in that final demographic statistics relating to the start of 2020 won't be published until early in 2021. Even so, these provisional figures are unlikely to change to any significant extent, and they show an overall growth in the population of 1.9%. For the whole of Spain there was a 0.9% increase. This 1.9%, which equates to 21,543 people, is the highest percentage rise since 2.1% in 2009.

The nationality with the greatest number of residents is Moroccan - 28,433 as opposed to 26,724 in 2019, an increase of 6.4%. The Italian population, second on the list, has continued to grow - up nine per cent from 19,500 to 21,239. The German community is third, having gone down 0.8% to 18,764 from 18,922, while the UK population (the fourth highest) has risen 6.2% from 14,953 to 15,885.