I was wondering how many Brits are actually living in this area. So I turned to the net. Here’s my unscientific study, done over a coffee and on the back of (two) envelopes.
I setup a targeted advertising campaign on Facebook. I looked for people whose first language is English (UK) and live within 50 miles of Mojacar (Almeria).
Facebook reckons there are 5,600 people matching that criteria.
What percentage of the population could that actually be? Well, a recent and much quoted study found that 77% of the adult UK population had a Facebook account. Assuming that the same percentage holds out here (internet access: it’s a human right in Andalucia!) that would give us a total population of 6,888 British expats within 50 miles of Mojacar.
Broken down by age groups this gives us:
- 13-20: 660 people
- 21-30: 1,400
- 31-40: 1,040
- 41-50: 960
- 51-60: 660
- 61+: 1,620
A total, I notice, of 6,340 people. Either I misclicked, or (more likely) Facebook isn’t entirely accurate when returning this type of demographics.
How many people with English (all) as their first language?
The above study was conducted with people who had marked English (UK) as their native language. I extended the study to return English (All), and got a suspiciously round figure of 10,000 people from Facebook. However, searching for English (US) gave me 7,400 people. The other variants of English available on facebook (Pirate, Upside Down, etc) didn’t return any results. So we have 7,400 US English speakers + 5,600 UK English speakers: A total of 13,000 people. Hmm, round again?
Assuming the same 77% of the total population has facebook, we get about 16,000 English speaking people within 50 miles of Mojacar, which is about what I’ve always suspected.
I broke down the US English speakers by the same age groups and got roughly the same results. Again, the total population (adding up the age groups) gave me 7,760, more than the original 7,400.
Running the numbers, breaking down the age groups into their percentages:
English(UK): 10% 23% 16% 15% 10% 26%
English(US):12% 25% 23% 16% 11% 13%
Facebook as census taker. Love it.
Hi David
There could also be lots of people like me who live in Turre but on Fb I am listed as living in the UK as are quite a few of my friends so there are more of us around !!!!
What! False details on Facebook! Do the Authorities know? 🙂
Facebook has been a recent topic of conversation amongst our circle of friends during the last couple of days. I have not used Facebook, my wife has given it up and several friends have also dropped out of using Facebook. I would put the percentage of retired expat Facebook users in the Albox area at less than 20 percent! Among the younger age groups I would agree that the useage may be higher but the demographic spread here among the British and Irish is very much tilted toward the retired ages.
So, who is the average Facebook user? According to the research, it’s a young, 25 year-old woman, living in a big city, with a college degree and a household income of more than $75k a year.
Not many of them live within 50k of Mojacar!
Really? Around here in Turre everyone seems to be on it! It’s the young people who are giving it up, it’s a perfect place for the older generation
Speak for yourself 😯