The number of immigrants registered as living in Spain has increased more than sixfold over the last 10 years, figures released by its National Statistics Institute have revealed.
Some 5.6 million non-Spaniards were registered as living in the country last year, accounting for 12 percent of the population, an increase of 400,000 on 2008.
Immigration helped the population reach 46.7 million in 2009, up from 40.5 million in 2000 when the country had just 924,000 immigrants officially registered.
Forty percent of immigrants now living in Spain came from other EU countries, notably Romania, with 759,000 registered, and the UK, with 356,000.
Full story: Spain sees sixfold increase in immigrants over decade | World news | guardian.co.uk