From fishing village to major city in thirty years

In the 1980s Torrevieja had a population of 12,000. By 1990 the population had risen to 23,192 and by 2000 to 50,189.

The latest figures from the padron show that the current recorded population is 103,265 a figure which is down by 1,435 from last year.

Of the 117 nationalities that live in Torrevieja, Spaniards make up 46.78%. Brits represent the largest group of foreigners with 12,917 registered citizens. They are followed by the Germans with 3,817. The other major countries represented are Russia (3,353), Morocco (3,206), Sweden (2,784), Norway (2,213), Ukraine (2,213), Bulgaria (2,180), Romania (2,162), Colombia (2,139), Finland (1,200), Belgium (1,417) and Italy (1,095).

The problem is that these figures only show those people registered on the padron. Estimates show that there are at least a further 60,000 unregistered residents that live in Torrevieja for the majority of the year. It is anybody's guess as to what nationality they are.