The province of Malaga is still one of the parts of Spain that attracts large numbers of new inhabitants. This is clear from the preliminary report on the census issued this week by the National Institute of Statistics. In the last 12 months in the province 23,000 people have registered as new residents, of whom almost half are foreign.

Moreover the number of foreigners officially registered in the province has tripled in the last five years, to reach 192,000,13 per cent of the total population. In percentage terms the number of foreigners rose by 160 per cent between 2000 and 2006. By nationality the United Kingdom comes first with 51,000 residents, followed by Morocco, Argentina and Germany.

Although popular belief has it that there are large numbers of Chinese, the figure on the census is only 2,800, almost as many as the Brazilians and the Paraguayans, and well below the numbers of Roumanians, Colombians, Ecuadorians and Bolivians. The situation with the Nigerians is somewhat similar; there are over 1,800, although the real figure will be higher because of the fear that many have of putting their names down in the municipality where they live.

There are over 70 different nationalities living in the province of Malaga, including Australians, New Zealanders, Americans, Serbians; Armenians, Moldavians and Japanese. Moreover Fuengirola is home to the biggest Finnish colony outside the country - 4,600. By sex more foreigners are male than female, but by a small margin -98,000 compared to 93,500.

Many of the inhabitants, 280,000, were born in other provinces in Spain, mainly in Andalucia. The total population of the province, after the last study, is 1,476,152, 1.56 per cent more than the previous year. Overall there are more women than men by a margin of 17,000. By age the biggest numbers are in the 30 to 34 age group, followed by the 35 to 39 group and then those aged 25 to 29.

However the ageing of the population also continues. A total of 211,000 inhabitants are over the age of 65 and 20,000 are over 85, while at the other end of the age scale there are 154,000 children under nine.

70 nationalities are present in the province of Malaga. Among them:
- United Kingdom: 51,047
- Morocco: 17,810
- Argentina: 12,994
- Germany. 12,177
- Italy: 7,566
- Colombia: 5,685
- France: 5,221
- Roumania: 4