Immigration to Spain

Immigration to Spain, which had been very low for much of the country's history, increased sharply in the early 21st century. For example, in 1998, immigrants made up just 1.6% of the population, but by 2009, that figure had exceeded 12%. Following a decline during the economic crisis, immigration began to rise again after 2015, with a marked acceleration after 2021, with the foreign-born population now reaching 20.3% of the total population as of January 2025.^[2]

As of 1 January 2026, the most recent date for which data are available by specific countries and regions, the foreign-born population in Spain represented 20.3% of the total population.^[3] Of these, 4.92% were born in other European countries, while the remaining 14.34% originated from outside Europe. The largest share of the non-European population came from South America, accounting for 7.61% of the total population, followed by those from Africa (3.35%), Central America and the Caribbean (1.75%), Asia (1.25%), North America (0.35%), and Oceania (0.02%).^[4] Among them, 7,243,561 individuals (14.6% of the total population) did not hold Spanish citizenship.^[5] This places Spain as the 4th country in Europe in terms of immigrant population and the 7th worldwide.

During the early 21st century, the average year-on-year demographic growth set a new record with its 2003 peak variation of 2.1%, doubling the previous record reached in the 1960s when a mean year-on-year growth of 1% was experienced.^[6] In 2005 alone, the immigrant population of Spain increased by 700,000 people.^[7]

Spain accepted 478,990 new immigrant residents in just the first six months of 2022 alone. During these months, 220,443 people also emigrated from Spain, leaving a record-breaking net migration figure of 258,547.^[8] More women than men chose to move to Spain during 2022; this is due to higher rates of emigration from Latin America.^[8]

Population data

As of 1 January 2026, the most recent data results show 10,004,581 or 20.3% of the total population were foreign-born.^[9]

Previous data from the United Nations, there were 5,947,106 immigrants in Spain in early 2018, 12.8% of the population of Spain.^[10] According to the Spanish government, there were 5.6 million foreign residents in Spain in 2010; independent estimates put the figure 14% of total population (Red Cross, World Disasters Report 2006). According to the official 2011 census data, almost 800,000 were Romanian, 774,000 were Moroccan, 317,000 were Ecuadorian, 312,000 were British and 250,000 were Colombian [1]. Other important foreign communities are Bolivian (4.1%), German (3.4%), Italian (3.1%), Bulgarian (2.9%), Chinese (2.6%) and Argentine (2.5%). In 2005, a regularization programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people. Since 2000, Spain has experienced high population growth as a result of immigration flows, despite a birth rate that is only half of the replacement level.

According to Eurostat, in 2010, there were 6.4 million foreign-born residents in Spain, corresponding to 14.0% of the total population. Of these, 4.1 million (8.9%) were born outside the EU and 2.3 million (5.1%) were born in another EU Member State.^[14]

As of 2005 Spain had the second highest immigration rates within the EU, just after Cyprus, and the second highest absolute net migration in the World (after the USA).^[15]

Over 920,000 immigrants arrived in Spain during 2007, in addition to 802,971 in 2006, 682,711 in 2005, and 645,844 in 2004.^[16]

For nationalities outside of this category,^{[clarification needed]} in order to stay in Spain for more than 3 months, a residence card, residence visa or work permit is required.^[17]

Two distinct groups can be identified: those immigrants (mostly in working age) originating from countries mostly located in Eastern Europe, South America or Africa, with lower purchasing power than Spain, comprising most of the immigrating population, and those (of whom many are retired) originating from northern European or other western countries with a higher GDP per capita than Spain.^[18]

Immigrants from Europe

Immigrants from Europe make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spain. The main countries of origin are Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria.

The British authorities estimate that the real population of British citizens living in Spain is much bigger than Spanish official figures suggest, establishing them at about 1,000,000, about 800,000 being permanent residents.^[19] Of these, according to the BBC and contrary to popular belief, only about 21.5% are over the age of 65.^[20]

In fact, according to the Financial Times, Spain is the most favoured destination for West Europeans considering to move from their own country elsewhere in the EU.^[21]

Social attitudes to immigration

Unlike other countries in the EU, Spain has not recorded any relevant anti-immigration about until fairly recently.^[22] According to some analysts, the causes behind this are multiple. Drawing from the experience of many Spaniards during the 1960s and then again in the beginning of the 21st century when the crisis struck the country, there may be also a collective understanding that hardships force people to seek work abroad.^[22]

A January 2004 survey by Spanish newspaper El País showed that the "majority" of Spaniards believe immigration was too high.^[23] Small parties, such as Movimiento Social Español, openly campaign using nationalist or anti-immigrant rhetoric as do other small far-right parties such as National Democracy (Spain) and España 2000. These parties have never won national or regional parliamentary seats. However, while the far-right political party Vox has gained headlines for favouring tough stance against immigration, commentators have suggested that this has not translated into electoral success for them.^[24][25]

According to an October 2024 survey for the El País newspaper and Cadena SER radio station, 57% of Spaniards believe there is "too much" immigration to Spain.^[26]

Immigration by country of origin

Recent trends

Major immigration

This chart shows the numbers and difference of foreign nationals in Spain after 2000. European Union member states are indicated with the EU flag in regional European sub-divisions. The number of Latin American immigrants decreased massively after 2009 mostly due to the naturalization of hundreds of thousands of these citizens who achieved the Spanish citizenship and therefore do not count as immigrants anymore on the official statistics.^[32] See the chart from below from the "Naturalizations" paragraph for further information.

• [2]

From other countries

Europe

European Union member states are indicated with the EU flag in regional European sub-divisions.

Africa

• Source: [3]^{[dead link]}

Central America

North America

Asia

Oceania

Comparison with other countries from European Union

According to Eurostat 47.3 million people lived in the European Union in 2010 who were born outside their resident country. This corresponds to 9.4% of the total EU population. Of these, 31.4 million (6.3%) were born outside the EU and 16.0 million (3.2%) were born in another EU member state. The largest absolute numbers of people born outside the EU were in Germany (6.4 million), France (5.1 million), the United Kingdom (4.7 million), Spain (4.1 million), Italy (3.2 million), and the Netherlands (1.4 million).^[14]

Irregular migration

The concept of an "irregular", "undocumented", or "illegal" migrant did not become meaningful in Spain's social imagination until the passing of the Ley de Extranjería in 1985, a year before Spain's entry into the European Communities.^[35]

Even though the main paths for the entry of clandestine migration have traditionally been airports and land borders, the sea route has proven to have a "profound impact at the social level" owing to qualitative, rather than quantitative, reasons.^[36]

Regarding the governance of the migration of Sub-Saharan people from Morocco (and Western Sahara) into Spain (which include crossings into the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as a sea route to the Canary Islands), the Moroccan and Spanish authorities follow necropolitical forms of border control which are complemented with the favouring of the idea of "advancing borders" by reaching deals with origin or transit countries such as Guinea Conakry, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Gambia.^[37]

On 9 October 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the European Parliament to speed up the implementation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum to alleviate the migration crisis in the Canary Islands,^[38] which had seen the illegal arrival of a record number of 46,843 migrants, mostly from Senegal, Mali and Morocco (up from 39,910 in 2023).^[39] Sánchez tried to push through a law that would introduce mandatory distribution of migrants among Spanish regions in order to alleviate pressure in the Canary Islands.^[40]

The Sánchez government planned to legalize around 900,000 undocumented migrants by 2027.^[41]

Naturalizations

From 2005 to 2024 alone, roughly 2.7 million foreigners were granted Spanish citizenship through naturalization.^[42]

Since the end of the 20th century the number of foreigners who have obtained Spanish nationality has grown steadily, as Spain has been the EU country with the biggest number of approved naturalizations since 2010 until 2015. 1 out of 4 naturalizations made in the European Union in 2014 were belonging to Spain. Most of these naturalizations went to citizens coming from Latin America (which explains the massive decrease of these citizens counting as immigrants in Spain) mainly from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, although Morocco was amongst the top 3 as well.^[43] After 4 years being the first, Spain dropped to the 3rd position in 2015 due to the stricter laws to naturalize citizens. Still, 114.351 foreigners became Spanish citizens in 2015, the majority being Latin Americans.^[44]

See also

• Opposition to immigration
• Remigration
• Demographics of Spain
• Immigration to Europe
• Spanish nationality law
• List of countries by immigrant population
• List of sovereign states and dependent territories by fertility rate

References

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5. ^ "INEbase / Demografía y población /Cifras de población y Censos demográficos /Estadística continua de población / Últimos datos" (in Spanish). INE. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
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11. ^ Fuente: para los años 1981, 1986 y 1991, los datos se refieren tan sólo a extranjeros con permiso de residencia a 31 de diciembre y proceden del Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, citado en [4]^{[dead link]} (tomando, para el porcentaje de 1986, la población española de hecho según la estimación intercensal del INE para el 1 de julio [5]). Para los datos de 1996 y posteriores, todos los datos proceden del INE [6]
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36. ^ Inglada Galiana, Sastre Centeno & Miguel Bilbao 2019, p. 125.
37. ^ Fernández Labayen, Miguel & Gutiérrez, Irene (2022). "Physical, affective and symbolic immobility in the videos made by Sub-Saharan migrants at the EU external borders in Northern Africa". Border Crossings and Mobilities on Screen. Trandafoiu, Ruxandra (ed.). Routledge. pp. 28–29; 34. doi:10.4324/9781003127703. ISBN 9781003127703. S2CID 248337838
38. ^ "Sánchez to seek urgent fix for Canary Islands migration crisis". Euractiv. 10 January 2024.
39. ^ "Spain's Canary Islands received record 46,843 migrants in 2024: ministry". France 24. 2 January 2025.
40. ^ "Spanish leader Sanchez meets with Canary Islands leader as migrant arrivals soar". Euronews. 23 August 2024.
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External links

• ASESER Teranga: Asociación de Inmigrantes Senegaleses Residentes en A Coruña Archived 19 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine