Number of Britons Seeking New Life in Spain Rises By 12%

The number of people seeking a new life in Spain has surged by 12% as Britons firmly established themselves as the country's fourth-largest immigrant community.

Figures released yesterday by the Spanish government revealed that the number of British expatriates registered as resident in Spain had risen to 352,000 at the start of 2008. That gave Spain a bigger British population than all but eight local authorities in England, according to the most recent census figures.

Although the new figures were gathered before the tumbling value of the pound began creating problems for those living off British pensions in Spain, few people expect numbers to start falling.

"Some people have had to head back to Britain recently but the impression is still that there are lots more just waiting for things to change so they can come over," said James Parkes, editor of the English-language Costa Blanca News. Emigrants to Spain are no longer mainly pensioners. The figures show only one third of Britons living in Spain are aged over 55.

Most Britons there are of working age, though their traditional jobs, such as selling holiday homes, are disappearing this year as property bubbles burst in both Spain and Britain.

British voters have helped elect compatriots as councilors in some town halls. Mark Lewis, a councilor in the town of San Fulgencio, near Alicante, even found himself as acting mayor earlier this year after many of his fellow councilors were arrested on suspicion of corruption.

The Foreign Office believes the official Spanish figure still hugely under-represents the real numbers living in Spain. "Around 1 million Britons now live permanently in Spain," it says. That would suggest most Britons still refuse to register at town halls, making life difficult for councils which receive funding on the basis of their registered population.