Almeria, land of hope

ALMERIA Province is recovering its former status as a welcoming land of opportunities for outsiders, new statistics for 2014 have revealed.

The number of people moving to the area from abroad has gone up to 6,207 after five years of drops, giving hope that things are finally on the road to recovery.

Almeria is now the second favourite province in Andalucia for people moving from abroad to choose to set up home, and according to the Andalucian Statistics and Cartography Institute most newcomers are from the UK, Romania and Morocco.

Although still a long way from the 17,478 non-Spaniards who moved to the province in 2008, the figures are certainly better than those for 2013 at just 5,577.

Meanwhile the number of locals leaving is falling which gives authorities reason to be hopeful. While in 2013 13,245 Almeria people left to seek their fortunes elsewhere, last year this number fell to just 8,662.