Alicante is the third province in Spain with the largest foreign population, most of them of European origin | Radio Alicante | Present

The Association of Solidarity with Immigrant Workers, ASTI-Alicante of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, has published your new annual report on foreign population in the province and that confirms that Alicante is the province with the most foreign population in the Valencian Community, and the third in all of Spain.

According to the latest INE data, published in January 2020, almost 20% of the province’s population is foreign, with 374,618 people. Of these, 60% are of European origin, followed by Africa with 18.5%; and America, with 16%.

In terms of age, one in five foreigners in the province is between 40 and 44 years old, around 32,000 people. The person in charge of awareness and advocacy at ASTI, Pedro Juan Díaz, highlights the positive that the social fabric of the province has a working population.

He explains that it is not only positive for what they contribute economically, but also for the benefits of growing up in a multicultural society. However, the association regrets that the xenophobic speeches that have been heard for some time continue to rise.

It states that only one in ten people in Spain is foreigner, but that the extreme right speaks of an “avalanche” and generates rejection against migrants. Díaz calls on us to look at the data and not at hate speech, because “it is the data that tells us the truth of things,” he says.