Number of foreigners now living legally in Spain is close to four million

Number of foreigners now living legally in Spain is close to four million
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By h.b. - Jan 28, 2008 - 3:23 PM

Immigrant youngsters helping to hand out food in San Sebastian de la Gomera - Photo EFE

The number has increased by a million over 2007 according to Government figures just published

The number of legal immigrants now resident in Spain is just under four million, at 3,979,074. Over 2007 a million immigrants obtained residence in Spain with most of them, 64% heading to Cataluña, Madrid, Valencia and Andalucía.

The largest nationality remains the Moroccans, up nearly 10% on the previous year, and the number of Romanians has crossed the 600,000 level for the first time.

Madrid and Barcelona have between them 32.4% of the immigrants, that’s about a million, and most of them are from outside the European Union, according to the latest data from the Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs.

The number of immigrants from elsewhere in Europe, and the 27 countries of the EU increased over the year by nearly 700,000 to reach 1.6 million. Those from outside the EU are up 265,000 at 2.3 million.

The current top five by nationality are –
1. Moroccans 648,735
2. Romanians 603,889
3. Ecuadorians 395,808
4. Colombians 254,301
5. British 198,638

1,981,106 foreigners paid into the Spanish Social Security system in 2007, some 10.3% of the total.

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