The foreign exodus

IF you believe the official figures there has been an exodus of British and German residents from the Balearics in the last 12 months. According to new figures almost 9,000 Germans and 4,000 Britons have left the islands in the last 12 months. I find these figures rather amazing and hard to believe because the British community in the whole of the Balearics now stands at just 20,000 and the Germans at 27,000. Now, obviously because of the present economic climate some foreigners have left the islands but I sincerely doubt that the figures realised yesterday are accurate. I suspect that one of the reasons why there has been such a big drop is that you now have to reregister with your council periodically otherwise you are simply dropped from the census. According to the figures Majorca has lost 2,000 British residents with the remaining 2,000 being in Ibiza and Minorca. The official figures say that 1,000 British citizens have left Palma, which is amazing because the capital is not known for its large British community. The local authorities should be deeply concerned if so many British and Germans are leaving the island because it clearly suggests that all is not well. But there are some parts of the island where the British community has actually increased, Calvia being one of them. And full marks to the Calvia council because they are one of the few local authorities which actually work hard to maintain an accurate census of the population. Perhaps this is the key.