A 2024 census revealed that foreigners make up 23% of Málaga’s population, with the British leading the pack.
According to new figures from the Spanish Institute of Statistics, approximately 23% of Málaga’s residents are foreigners, corresponding to 414,316 out of a total population of 1.7 million. This makes Málaga the province with the fifth-highest number of foreign residents, after Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, and Valencia.
However, in other regions, such as Almería and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (24%), and Girona, the Balearic Islands, and Alicante (26-27%), the proportion of foreign-born residents is higher. In all of these areas, the proportion of residents born outside Spain is higher than the national average, which is less than 20%.
In 35 of Málaga’s 103 municipalities, the proportion of foreigners exceeds 20%. The luxurious enclave of Benahavís leads the list with 64% foreign residents, representing 5,919 out of a total population of 9,265. The majority of this population are British expats, comprising 1,388 people, followed by 556 Russians.
Fuengirola follows with 44.6% foreign residents, composed primarily of Finns and Britons. Fuengirola is followed by Competa, Alcaucin, and Sayalonga, where approximately 44% of the residents are foreign nationals, representing 700 out of a total population of 1,624.
In Manilva and Torrox, the proportion of foreign residents is 40%, with the majority coming from Great Britain, Germany, and Morocco. In Marbella, around 60,800 of the city’s 159,054 residents were born abroad, representing 37%. The largest community is from Morocco, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Great Britain, Ukraine, and Russia.
In Mijas, more than a third of the 92,211 residents are foreigners (34,700), mainly British (7,193), Moroccans (3,617), and Argentinians (3,208). Argentina also plays a significant role in Benalmádena, where 28,000 of the 78,000 residents are foreign nationals. Around 5,000 people come from the Latin American country, followed by 3,438 from Great Britain and 2,812 from Morocco.
In absolute terms, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas, and Benalmádena have the highest number of foreign residents, followed by Estepona (33%, 26,000) and Torremolinos (30%, 21,000). Although they are smaller towns, Casares, Frigiliana, Canillas de Albaida, Ojén, and Archez also have a notable number of foreign-born residents, accounting for around 35%.
In comparison, Monda, Canillas del Aceituno, Cutar, Guaro, and Benamargosa have a foreign-born population of around 25-30%. Around 34% of Nerja’s population was born outside of Spain, with Britons leading the way, followed by Argentinians.
Similarly, Britons form the largest foreign community in Alhaurín el Grande (2,279) and Coín (1,700). At the lower end of the scale, only 15% of the population of Vélez-Málaga and the capital, Málaga, are foreign-born, with the majority coming from Latin America.
