Revealed: The areas in Spain which welcome the most immigrants, according to latest official data

THE VALENCIAN COMMUNITY, Catalunya, and the Madrid region received the largest number of foreign immigrants in 2022 according to figures released by the National Institute of Statistics(INE).

At the other end of the scale, the lowest intakes by region were La Rioja, Extremadura and Cantabria.

The INE worked out the numbers based on external migratory balance which is the difference between the immigrant population that has entered a region and that which has left.

The highest net regional rises two years ago were in Catalunya (158,546), the Community of Madrid (135,620), and the Valencian Community(113,402).

The capitals of those regions- namely Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, also had the highest migratory balances among Spain’s cities in terms of raw numbers.

But taking the figures as a percentage based on a city’s population, two Costa Blanca municipalities- Alicante and Torrevieja- had the greatest rises in relative terms, due mainly to a large influx of Ukrainian refugees.

Zaragoza, Malaga, Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona province), Palma de Mallorca and Murcia also had a higher external balance in relation to their population.

Across Spain, the migratory balance of foreign arrivals totalled 729,709 people in 2022, the highest in 10 years.

By nationalities, the biggest group rises were Colombians with 152,634, Ukrainians (85,978) and Venezuelans (72,086).