The number of Britons living in Spain over the age of 65 has more than doubled in the past 10 years, according to official statistics.
The joint research by Britain and Spanish statisticians shows there were over twice as many British citizens living in Spain at the time of the EU referendum than there were Spanish citizens resident in Britain.
The special report by the Office for National Statistics and the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica says there were 296,000 British citizens who had been living in Spain for more than 12 months in 2016, while the UK was home to an average of 116,000 Spanish people between 2013 and 2015.
Accurate data on the number of Britons resident in other European Union countries is sparse, with the oft-quoted estimate of 1.2 million based on a 2015 United Nations report. The ONS/INE report is the first in a series designed to provide a clearer picture of the British population in other EU countries in the run-up to Brexit.
The 296,000 Britons living in Spain are thought to be the largest single group of UK citizens living in other European countries followed by France and Ireland.
The ONS/INE report says the proportion of Britons in Spain who are over 65 has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, more than doubling to 121,000 and now making up 40% of the British community.
Department for Work and Pensions data shows there are 108,433 Britons in receipt of a UK state pension in Spain, underlining the importance in this week’s UK offer on citizens’ rights guaranteeing their pensions will continue to be uprated in line and paid abroad after Brexit.
The ONS says the number of older UK people moving to Spain has actually been stable since 2008 and concluded that the increase in over-65s is most likely the result of ageing among the already resident population.
While the largest single group of Britons in Spain are over 65, Spanish people resident in Britain are predominantly from younger age groups. Around half the 116,000 Spanish citizens resident in the UK are aged 20-39.
The majority – 59% – of Spanish residents in Britain work, with 78% to be found in the three sectors of education and health; banking and finance; and hotels and restaurants.