George Mathias
FOLLOWING Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, The Olive Press takes a look at Ukrainian and Russian demographics in Spain.
There are currently 112,034 Ukrainian citizens registered as living in Spain, according to padron figures collated by Spain’s National Statistics Agency (INE), which accounts for around 0.2% of the Spanish population.
This marks a slight decrease from 2021 where there were around 3,000 more Ukrainians living here.
The largest populations are found in the cities of Madrid (23,352), Barcelona (13,191), Alicante (11,506) and Malaga (11,503).
Andalucia is home to some 17,414 Ukrainians.
The number of Russians officially residing in Spain is much smaller and amounts to almost half that of Ukrainians. The records show there are 79,485 Russians registered in Spain in 2022.
This figure has also decreased since last year, in this case by 3,303 people.
They reside principally in the cities of Alicante (16,543), Barcelona (15,672), Malaga (7,388) and Girona (5,762).
Andalucia is host to just over 14,000 Russians.
These figures however, only refer to those who are legally resident in Spain. Many more Russians own property or second homes in Spain but are not full-time residents.
The Ukrainian diaspora comprises around 10 million people, over three million of whom reside in Russia whilst Canada is home to almost 1.5 million.
Famous Brits with Ukrainian heritage include former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, former Tory MP Oliver Letwin, and Harry Potter actress Zoë Wanamaker.
Spain has seen widespread protests in condemnation of Russia, with many taking to the streets waving Ukrainian flags.
Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem was one of many who protested against the invasion of outside the Russian embassy in Madrid.
There were also sizeable protests in Barcelona and Alicante.
READ MORE:
- Russians in Spain struggle as sanctions bite over Ukraine invasion
- Spain to send ‘military hardware’ to Ukraine
- Here’s what you can do to help people in Ukraine
I think it is more than unfair, that people now blame all people from Russia for what is happening in Ukraine. It is exactly what the Germans did under Hitler to the jews.
Is there no possibility to help the people from Russia in Spain ? I would like to do this.
I live in Gibraltar and partly in Spain and Germany.