Immigration to Spain increased significantly in the beginning of the 21st century. In 1998, immigrants accounted for 1.6% of the population, and by 2009, that number had jumped to above 12% — one of the highest in Europe at the time. Until 2014, the numbers were decreasing due to the economic crisis, but since then, immigration to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
has increased again since 2015.
As of 2020, there were 7,231,195 foreign-born people in Spain, making up to 15.23% of the Spanish population including 5,015,263 (10.57%) born in a non-European country. Of these, 5,434,153 (11.45%) didn't have Spanish citizenship.
This makes Spain one of the world's
preferred destinations to immigrate to, being the
4th country in Europe by immigration numbers and the 10th worldwide. Spain attracts significant immigration from
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
. The fastest-growing immigrant groups in 2017 were
Venezuelans,
Colombians
Colombians ( es, Colombianos) are people identified with the country of Colombia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Colombians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the sourc ...
,
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
,
Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...
, and
Argentinian
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...
s.
The population of Spain doubled during the 20th century due to the spectacular demographic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s. The birth rate then plunged by the 1980s, and Spain's population became stagnant, its demographics showing one of the lowest
sub-replacement fertility rate in the world..
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 back in the 1960s when a mean year on year growth of 1% was experienced. This trend is far from being reversed at the present moment and, in 2005 alone, the immigrant population of Spain increased by 700,000 people.
Currently
![1981-2014 Ext-Esp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/1981-2014_Ext-Esp.gif)
According to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, there were 5,947,106 immigrants in Spain in early 2018, 12.8% of population of Spain. 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 Colombia
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.
[6.5% of the EU population are foreigners and 9.4% are born abroad](_blank)
, Eurostat, Katya VASILEVA, 34/2011.
As of 2005 Spain had the second highest immigration rates within the EU, just after
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
, and the second highest absolute net migration in the World (after the USA). This can be explained by a number of reasons including its strong economic growth at the time, the large size of its underground economy and the strength of the agricultural and construction sectors which demand more low cost labour than can be offered by the national workforce, as well as business opportunities for immigrants coming from other developed countries. In fact, booming Spain was Europe's largest absorber of migrants from 2002 to 2007, with its immigrant population more than doubling as 2.5 million people arrived.
Over 920,000 immigrants arrived in Spain during 2007, on top of the 802,971 new arrivals in 2006, 682,711 new arrivals in 2005, and 645,844 new arrivals in 2004.
Although the number of immigrants in Spain, officially, is smaller than that of other countries in the EU, the following data should be taken into consideration:
![Zapatillas_con_clavos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Zapatillas_con_clavos.jpg)
* Immigrants from countries belonging to the former
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
(mainly in Central and South America–
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
–, Asia–the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
– and Africa–
Equatorial Guinea and
Western Sahara
Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...
–) can obtain Spanish nationality after legal and continuous residence of 2 years in Spain, after which naturalized citizens are no longer counted as immigrants.
* In order to avoid
statelessness, Spain automatically grants Spanish nationality to the children of immigrants born in Spain whose parents' nationality of origin is not transferred
jus sanguinis upon their child's birth abroad. This is unlike many other countries in the EU. It is for this reason that although the Latin American immigrants of origin are most numerous, the Romanians or the Moroccans surpassed them in the official statistics.
In the same way the majority of children born in Spain between 2000 and 2010 are children of immigrants despite not counting as such. Considering these data, there are sectors of Spanish society who oppose immigration that affirm the real number of immigrants in Spain is 10–11 million, or about 25% of the total population.
As for nationalities outside of this category, in order to stay in Spain for more than 3 months, a residence card, residence visa or work permit is required.
In all, 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
GDP per capita than Spain, comprising most of the immigrating population, and those (whom many are retired) immigrants originating from northern European or another western countries with a higher GDP per capita than Spain.
Immigrants from Europe
Immigrants from the 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.
Of these, according to the BBC and contrary to popular belief, only about 21.5% are over the age of 65.
In fact, according to the ''Financial Times'', Spain is the most favoured destination for West Europeans considering to move from their own country and seek jobs elsewhere in the EU.
Social attitudes to immigration
Unlike other countries in the EU, Spain has not recorded any relevant anti-immigration bout until fairly recently.
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.
A January 2004 survey by Spanish newspaper ''
El País'' showed that the "majority" of Spaniards believe immigration was too high. 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)
National Democracy ( es, Democracia Nacional, DN) is a far-right political party in Spain, founded in 1995. It is modelled on the National Rally (RN) of France, and grew indirectly out of several defunct parties like the Spanish Circle of Friend ...
and
España 2000
España 2000 (E-2000) is a far-right political party in Spain which has never obtained national or regional parliamentary representation. The last time it ran for General elections was in 2011, where it obtained 9266 votes out of a total of 24,59 ...
. These parties have never won national or regional parliamentary seats. However, since its foundation in recent years, the far-right politial party
Vox has managed to disrupt mainstream politics, favouring tough stance against immigration and especially demonising migrant children.
Immigration by country of origin
Population by country of birth as of 2021:
Recent trends
Major immigration
This chart shows the numbers and difference of foreign nationals in Spain after 2000.
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
member states are indicated with the EU flag in regional European sub-divisions. The number of
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...
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. See the chart from below from the "Naturalizations" paragraph for further information.
From other countries
Europe
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
member states are indicated with the EU flag in regional European sub-divisions.
Africa
* Source
''
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
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
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).
Irregular migration
The concept of an "irregular", "undocumented", or "illegal" migrant did not become meaningful in Spain's social imaginary until the passing of the in 1985, a year before
1986 enlargement of the European Communities, Spain's entry into the European Communities.
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.
Regarding the governance of the migration of
Sub-Saharan people from
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
(and Western Sahara) into Spain (which include crossings into the autonomous cities of
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
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
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
,
Ivory Coast, and
Gambia.
Naturalizations
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
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
in 2014 were belonging to Spain. Most of these naturalizations went to citizens coming from
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
(which explains the massive decrease of these citizens counting as immigrants in Spain) mainly from
Colombia,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
and
Perú, although
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
was amongst the top 3 as well. 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
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-et ...
.
See also
*
Immigration to Europe
Immigration to Europe has a long history, but increased substantially in the later 20th century.
Western Europe countries, especially, saw high growth in immigration after World War II and many European nations today (particularly those of the EU- ...
*
Spanish nationality law
Spanish nationality law refers to all the laws of Spain concerning nationality. Article 11 of the First Title of the Spanish Constitution refers to Spanish nationality and establishes that a separate law is to regulate how it is acquired and lo ...
*
List of countries by immigrant population
These are lists of countries by foreign-born population ( immigrants) and lists of countries by number native-born persons living in a foreign country (emigrants).
According to the United Nations, in 2019, the United States, Germany, and Saudi Ar ...
*
References
External links
ASESER Teranga: Asociación de Inmigrantes Senegaleses Residentes en A Coruña
{{Commons category, Immigration in Spain
Demographics of Spain
Ethnic groups in Spain