Over the past three decades, Alicante has not only grown in population but has also undergone profound demographic changes.
These changes are shaped by factors such as age, national origin, and neighbourhood distribution.
Municipal census data from 1997 to 2024 shows that the city has gained 93,914 inhabitants, marking a 33 per cent increase. However, this growth has been far from uniform. Playa de San Juan and Garbinet have nearly sextupled their populations, while newer districts like PAU 1, PAU 2, and Gran Vía Sur now collectively house around 20,000 residents.
Meanwhile, traditional central areas such as the Old Town, Benalúa, Alipark, San Fernando-Princesa Mercedes, Florida Alta, and Ensanche Diputación have seen a combined decline of 14.8 per cent, losing 7,145 residents over the period.
Ensanche Diputación has been particularly affected, losing a fifth of its population in 27 years and dropping from the city’s most populated neighbourhood to the fifth. The decline in historic neighbourhoods was especially pronounced between 2005 and 2021, contrasting with earlier widespread growth seen in the first four years of the millennium.
In the last two years, Alicante’s population has grown again, with increases of 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023. However, this growth has been almost entirely driven by an increase in foreign residents, rising from 62,195 people (17.7 per cent of the population in 2021) to 82,604 (22.2 per cent by the end of 2023).
