Sunday, September 17, 2006
Santa Cruz, Capital of 118 Countries
EL DÍA, phrasing it like Tenerife's capital is being overrun, tell us that 15,467 of the 223,000 registered inhabitants of Santa Cruz, were not born in Spain.
The figures, from January 1st, 2006, indicate that close to 7% (without looking it up, I think this is below the national average) of the capital's inhabitants are foreigners of 118 different nationalities. The largest number are Venezuelan and, of the 2,243 added in the previous year, almost all came from Latin America.
The increase in the number of Bolivians - almost 500 to 1,630 - surprised them. Third in the ranking are Argentinians (1,336), followed by Columbians (1,056), Cubans (1,158) and Italians (1,103). Other nations in the "top ten" are Ecuador (711), India (534), Germany (515) and Uraguay (491).
They underlined the curiosity of the presence of citizens born in countries as exotic and far off as Bhutan and Nepal and the fact that some are registered simply as "foreigner", without specifying the country. There are also 377 Chinese registered at 11th position in the "hit parade" and various Africans, but, curiously, the British in the capital did not get a specific mention.
Santa Cruz, capital de 118 países
