Some Spanish Towns And Villages Now Have More Brits Than Locals

It has to be said that not all British expat retirees want the stress of learning Spanish and adjusting to a different culture.

Expat retirement for many UK citizens isn’t about a totally new language and lifestyle, it’s simply about a better climate enjoyed amongst other like-minded Brits in a supportive community. As a result, a number of Spanish towns and villages have found themselves becoming Little Britain, a home from home for a sizeable number of expats. Whether or not more conventional expatriates agree with this stance on emigration, it’s actually benefitted the areas concerned.

More than most other nationalities, Britons tend to group together, pumping cash into Spain’s forgotten rural regions, creating jobs and revitalising stalled property markets. Valencia and Andalusia are the two most popular regions, with around 78,000 Brits resident all across both. Provinces with the highest number of British residents are Alicante, Malaga and Almeria, accounting for around 130,000 UK expats, some of whom actually outnumber the Spanish nationals living in the same villages and small towns.

In Alicante, the coastal town of Poble Nou de Benitachell has a British international school serving the 60 per cent of the population who’re foreign- born, with Britons making up half the expat total. Around 64 per cent of the population of the inland hillside town of Benehavis, set between Marbella and Estepona, are foreign, with the majority arriving from the UK. It’s not just towns which attract British expats, with Alicante’s charming Daya Vieja village home to 430 foreigners, 60 per cent of whom are British expats. Also in Alicante, the pretty village of Lliber has just over a thousand residents, 729 of whom form an expat community holding 70 per cent Britons.