Lanzarote is the only Canary Island whose largest foreign population is British, according to statistics from the Canarian Institute of Statistics.
The foreign population on the Canaries has fallen by over 23,000 over the last ten years, from a peak of over 310,000 foreign-born residents at the beginning of 2012, to just under 288,000 at the start of last year. However, this pattern is not reflected on Lanzarote, where foreign presence has risen steadily in recent years to a level of 48,636 at the start of 2021
Ten years ago, the Germans were the largest foreign population on all the islands, closely followed by the British. However, the presence of both these nationalities has fallen sharply, and Italy is now the largest foreign population with over 50,000 residents.
Italians form the largest foreign population on Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura, while Germans are the largest foreign population on La Palma and La Gomera. On El Hierro, 427 Venezuelans form the largest foreign population.
The British remain the most populous community on Lanzarote, although numbers have fallen from 8,026 in 2011 to 6,725 in 2021.
The fastest growing population in the last ten years has been Venezuelans, almost certainly because of the crisis in that country. Meanwhile, the population of Colombian and Moroccan residents on the islands remains virtually unchanged.
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