Alicante Residents Abroad: Europe and South America Lead in Migration

Many residents of Alicante are increasingly choosing to leave the province and the country. According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), there are currently 63,211 citizens from the province of Alicante residing abroad, about 3,000 more than in 2024.

In the last decade, the number of Alicante residents who have moved abroad has almost doubled (37,730 in 2015), while since 2009, migration from the province has increased by 63.75%. That year, 22,912 people registered in Alicante were living outside Spain.

Breaking down the Alicante population residing abroad by continents, Europe accounts for the majority, with more than half. Approximately 38,129 registered in the province live on the Old Continent, although only 12,124 of them were born in Alicante, about 31%, while 21,684 were born abroad and 4,231 in another province of Spain.

America stands out as another major continent with a significant Alicante population, particularly South America, where a large portion of migrants from this area are concentrated. Approximately 22,668 registered in the province reside on this continent, of which only 4,172 were born in the region.

By country, neighbouring France hosts the most Alicante residents, with 13,417, followed by Argentina with 7,969, and the United Kingdom with 6,218 registered in the province. The case of Argentina is more curious, as of the nearly 8,000 Alicante residents, only 846 were born on the Costa Blanca.

Other countries with a large number of Alicante residents include Switzerland, with 5,380, the United States, with nearly 4,000, and Ecuador, with more than 2,000 Alicante residents. In the case of South America, the percentage of Alicante-born residents is much lower than in Europe, where the number of migrants is higher and second and third generations do not have as much influence.

Curiously, the country with the fewest Alicante residents is Mauritania, with only 11. Other South American states such as El Salvador or Nicaragua also show few registered in the province, with only 17, while Jordan, in the Middle East, has 16 Alicante residents, according to the INE.

Breaking down the Alicante population residing abroad, the distribution is equal between men and women, although the population aged 16 to 64 stands out as the majority, while there are more minors than retired Alicante residents living abroad.