The ongoing effects of the eurozone crisis, a huge property slump and a rapidly shrinking job market have contributed to the exodus, reducing Spain's total population for the second year running.
Town hall registers across the country recorded a steep drop in Britons, falling 23 per cent from 385,179 on Jan 1 last year to 297,229 at the end of December.
Other European expatriates are also taking their leave – the registered German population fell by 23.6 per cent to 138,917 and the French population by 12.7 per cent to just over 100,000. The only nationality to increase their presence in Spain were the Chinese.
Although town hall records show those officially registered, the British embassy in Madrid estimates as many as 800,000 Britons reside for at least part of the year in Spain.
New research has found those who migrate to southern Europe are often less happy than those they leave behind.
Dr David Bartram, from Leicester University, examined the survey responses of 329 people who had moved from northern European countries to either Spain, Portugal, Greece or Cyprus.
He found that, when asked how happy they were on a scale of 1 to 10, the migrants scored an average of 7.3 compared with an average of 7.5 for 56,000 people in northern Europe who were also surveyed.The decline in foreigners choosing to reside in Spain has led to an overall population decline in the nation for the second year running.
According to official statistics Britons remain the second largest EU expatriate community in Spain after Romanians. Full story...
Photo: Screenshot from a video accompanying an article in The Times: Britons’ Spanish paradise reduced to a pile of rubble
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