Immigration to Spain

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 risen to over 12%. Until 2014, the numbers were decreasing due to the economic crisis, but since 2015, immigration to Spain has increased again,^[2] especially after 2021, being 19.11% of the population today.^[3]

Immigration to Spain (2025)

Total population
9,379,972 born-abroad (19.11%)[1] 6,852,348 foreign citizenship (13.96%) 49,077,984 Total population of Spain (2025)

Foreign-born population in Spain (2024)

As of 2025, there were 9,379,972 foreign-born people in Spain, making up to 19.11% of the population, including 5,308,314 (11.14%) born in a non-European country. Of these 6,852,348 (13.96%) did not have Spanish citizenship.^[4] This makes Spain the 4th country in Europe by immigration numbers and the 10th worldwide. Spain attracts significant immigration from Latin America and Eastern Europe. The fastest-growing immigrant groups in 2017 were Venezuelans, Colombians, Italians, Ukrainians, and Argentines.^[5]

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]

Currently

Impact of immigration on the Spanish population pyramid

Foreign population in Spain[9][10][11]
Year	Population	% total
1981	198,042	0.52%
1986	241,971	0.63%
1991	360,655	0.91%
1996	542,314	1.37%
1998	637,085	1.60%
1999	748,954	1.86%
2000	923,879	2.28%
2001	1,370,657	3.33%
2002	1,977,946	4.73%
2003	2,664,168	6.24%
2004	3,034,326	7.02%
2005	3,730,610	8.46%
2006	4,144,166	9.27%
2007	4,519,554	9.9%
2008	5,268,762	11.4%
2009	5,648,671	12.1%
2010	5,747,734	12.2%
2011	5,751,487	12.2%
2012	5,736,258	12.1%
2013	5,546,238	11.8%
2014	5,023,487	10.7%
2015	4,729,644	10.1%
2016	4,618,581	9.9%
2017	4,572,807	9.8%
2018	4,663,726	10.0%
2019	5,023,279	10.7%
2020	5,434,153	11.5%
2021	5,440,148	11.5%
2022	5,542,932	11.7%
2023	6,089,620	12.7%
2024	6,735,487	13.8%

According to the United Nations, there were 5,947,106 immigrants in Spain in early 2018, 12.8% of the population of Spain.^[12] 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 . 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.^[13]

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).^[14]

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.^[15]

Sneakers with nails in the soles and a metal hook, that illegal migrants use to jump the fences of Ceuta and Melilla.

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.^[16]

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.^[17]

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.^[18] Of these, according to the BBC and contrary to popular belief, only about 21.5% are over the age of 65.^[19]

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.^[20]

Social attitudes to immigration

Unlike other countries in the EU, Spain has not recorded any relevant anti-immigration about until fairly recently.^[21] 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.^[21]

A January 2004 survey by Spanish newspaper El País showed that the "majority" of Spaniards believe immigration was too high.^[22] 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, since its foundation in recent years, the far-right political party Vox has managed to disrupt mainstream politics, favouring tough stance against immigration.^[23]

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.^[24]

Immigration by country of origin

Population by country of birth as of 1 January 2024:^[25]

Country	Population
Morocco	1,092,892
Colombia	856,616
Venezuela	599,769
Romania	532,456
Ecuador	448,643
Argentina	415,987
Peru	378,924
United Kingdom	285,093
Cuba	223,352
France	217,247
Ukraine	215,700
Honduras	201,319
Dominican Republic	201,162
China	198,805
Bolivia	189,285
Brazil	179,033
Germany	177,715
Italy	160,201
Paraguay	146,047
Russia	134,068
Pakistan	123,882
Bulgaria	104,756
Portugal	96,187
Senegal	95,812
Uruguay	89,595
Algeria	87,854
Nicaragua	87,786
Mexico	79,581
Chile	76,638
USA	69,171
India	65,799
Switzerland	59,718
Netherlands	57,771
Philippines	57,498
Belgium	54,776

Recent trends

Countries with at least 10,000 people, immigrating each year.^[26]

Country	2016	2017	2018	2019
Venezuela	31,553	52,385	71,666	73,932
Morocco	30,097	40,372	61,715	73,560
Colombia	24,844	36,678	56,253	80,054
United Kingdom	23,876	28,875	31,276	37,617
Romania	27,860	30,235	28,030	25,675
Honduras	11,074	18,573	23,671	29,185
Italy	18,526	22,203	22,002	21,517
Peru	9,711	15,945	21,463	31,307
Argentina	10,852	14,904	19,166	31,132
Brazil	11,954	14,816	17,863	18,703
France	13,341	16,290	16,210	16,543
Ecuador	12,349	15,600	15,893	17,635
Cuba	8,122	10,280	14,265	17,588
United States	9,942	12,719	13,853	15,050
Germany	10,505	12,714	13,314	13,262
China	10,552	11,779	12,182	12,757
Nicaragua	4,250	6,330	11,732	17,410
Dominican Republic	9,709	11,324	10,813	11,037
Total	414,746	532,132	643,684	748,759

Place of Birth	Year
	2011[27][28]
	Number	%
Place of Birth in Reporting Country (Spain)	41,153,550
Place of Birth Not in Reporting Country	5,648,995
Other EU Member State	1,890,605
Outside EU but within Europe	239,880
Outside Europe/ Non-European	3,758,390
Africa	945,905
Asia	259,345
North America	41,220
Caribbean, South or Central America	2,265,685
Oceania	6,360
Total	46,815,910	100%

Foreign Population by Nationality[29]	Number	%
2022
TOTAL FOREIGNERS	5,542,932
EUROPE	2,205,961
EUROPEAN UNION	1,617,911
OTHER EUROPE	588,050
AFRICA	1,217,706
SOUTH AMERICA	1,173,900
CENTRAL AMERICA	368,461
NORTH AMERICA	76,628
ASIA	493,065
OCEANIA	3,580
Instituto Nacional de Estadística

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.^[30] See the chart from below from the "Naturalizations" paragraph for further information.

Origin	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020[31]	Article
Morocco	173,158	511,294	754,080	750,883	865,945	Moroccans in Spain
Romania	6,410	317,366	831,235	752,268	667,378	Romanians in Spain
Colombia	25,247	271,239	292,641	151,258	273,050	Colombians in Spain
United Kingdom	99,017	227,187	387,677	283,243	262,885	British migration to Spain
Italy	27,874	95,377	184,277	179,363	252,008	Italians in Spain
China	19,191	87,731	158,244	191,638	232,807	Chinese people in Spain
Venezuela	12,119	49,206	60,399	48,421	189,110	Venezuelans in Spain
Ecuador	20,481	497,799	399,586	176,397	130,919	Ecuadorians in Spain
Bulgaria	3,031	93,037	169,552	142,328	122,375	Bulgarians in Spain
Honduras	1,293	7,017	27,363	43,283	121,963	-
Ukraine	1,646	65,667	83,313	91,004	115,186	Ukrainians in Spain
Germany	88,651	133,588	195,824	130,911	111,937	Germans in Spain
France	46,375	77,791	123,870	99,598	108,275	French in Spain
Peru	27,422	85,029	140,182	71,112	106,712	Peruvians in Spain
Brazil	11,126	54,115	117,808	73,863	98,655	-
Pakistan	4,195	31,913	56,877	77,695	97,705	Pakistanis in Spain
Portugal	43,339	66,236	142,520	98,751	97,628	Portuguese in Spain
Bolivia	2,117	97,947	213,169	126,375	92,630	Bolivians in Spain
Argentina	23,351	152,975	132,249	75,313	89,029	Argentines in Spain
Paraguay	711	16,295	85,687	69,451	87,045	Paraguayans in Spain
Russia	5,199	36,319	49,820	68,387	82,788	Russians in Spain
Senegal	7,526	29,608	61,970	61,798	76,973	-
Dominican Republic	24,847	57,134	91,212	75,315	75,261	Dominicans in Spain
Algeria	10,759	46,278	58,743	62,398	66,893	-
Cuba	17,814	45,009	54,954	46,397	64,634	-
Nicaragua	700	1,953	12,190	20,941	57,530	-
India	6,807	17,558	32,947	36,724	54,387	Indians in Spain
Poland	8,164	36,477	86,324	63,324	53,418	Poles in Spain
Netherlands	21,763	33,845	53,983	45,844	46,891	-
United States	15,720	25,831	25,771	30,183	40,712	Americans in Spain
TOTAL	923,879	3,730,610	5,747,734	4,729,644	5,036,878

From other countries

Europe

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

Origin	2007	2006	Ref.
Albania	1,353	1,316	[32]
Andorra	1,022	1,075
Austria	8,651	7,776
Belarus	3,135	3,262
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,659	1,827
Croatia	1,649	1,788
Cyprus	146	130
Czech Republic	6,423	5,160
Denmark	10,906	9,977
Estonia	984	784
Finland	9,990	9,313
Georgia	7,355	6,284
Greece	3,567	3,027
Hungary	4,597	3,344
Iceland	1,083	920
Ireland	13,279	11,495
Latvia	2,128	1,741
Liechtenstein	48	117
Lithuania	18,528	15,200
Luxembourg	562	1,336
North Macedonia	407	440
Malta	152	129
Moldova	12,801	11,330
Norway	15,630	14,154
Serbia	3,133	3,474
Slovakia	5,999	4,515
Slovenia	799	619
Sweden	20,058	18,096
Switzerland	16,361	15,385
Rest of European countries	66	83
TOTAL EUROPE	1,895,727	1,609,856

Africa

Origin	2007	2006	Article
Angola	2,114	3,698
Cape Verde	2,998	3,611
Cameroon	4,029	3,955
Republic of the Congo	1,801	1,888
Ivory Coast	1,636	1,759
Egypt	2,566	3,634	Egyptians in Spain
Gambia	17,393	13,627
Ghana	12,699	13,133
Guinea	9,159	9,901
Equatorial Guinea	13,129	19,456	Spanish Equatoguineans
Guinea-Bissau	5,229	5,274
Liberia	581	1,167
Mali	17,094	14,497
Mauritania	9,271	9,308
DR Congo	1,008	1,548
Sierra Leone	989	1,487
South Africa	704	2,086
Tunisia	1,544	2,194	Tunisians in Spain
Rest of African countries	5,041	8,679
TOTAL	806.795

• Source: ^{[permanent dead link‍]}

Central America

Origin	2007	2006
Costa Rica	1,320	2,373
El Salvador	3,795	5,102
Guatemala	2,417	4,321
Honduras	14,253	10,652
Nicaragua	4,547	4,204
Panama	1,794	3,520
Rest of Central America countries	1,002	2,517
TOTAL	139.945

North America

Origin	2007	2006
Canada	2,419	5,420
United States	22,082	32,626
Mexico	21,107	40,574
TOTAL	45.608

Asia

Origin	2007	2006	Article
Armenia	9,582	9,365	Armenians in Spain
Philippines	54,385	51,368	Filipinos in Spain
South Korea	22,465	13,144	Koreans in Spain
India	21,296	23,296	Indians in Spain
Bangladesh	6,480	6,130
Iran	12,334	4,568	Iranians in Spain
Iraq	880	1,706	Iraqi people in Spain
Israel	1,713	2,427
Japan	11,636	7,684	Japanese Spaniards
Jordan	1,088	2,082	Jordanian people in Spain
Lebanon	6,250	2,750	Lebanese people in Spain
Syria	6,129	4,575	Syrian people in Spain
Turkey	1,758	1,656	Turks in Spain
Rest of Asian countries	6,430	2,517
TOTAL	219.843

Oceania

Origin	2007	2006
Australia	1,455	5,131
New Zealand	301	298
Rest of Oceanian countries	494	1,099
TOTAL	2.271

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).^[13]

Country	Total population (millions)	Total Foreign-born (millions)	%	Born in other EU state (millions)	%	Born in a non EU state (millions)	%
Germany	81.802	9.812	12.0	3.396	4.2	6.415	7.8
France	64.716	7.196	11.1	2.118	3.3	5.078	7.8
United Kingdom	62.008	7.012	11.3	2.245	3.6	4.767	7.7
Spain	45.989	6.422	14.0	2.328	5.1	4.094	8.9
Italy	60.343	4.798	8.0	1.592	2.6	3.205	5.3
Netherlands	16.575	1.832	11.1	0.428	2.6	1.404	8.5
Greece	11.305	1.256	11.1	0.315	2.8	0.940	8.3
Sweden	9.340	1.337	14.3	0.477	5.1	0.859	9.2
Austria	8.367	1.276	15.2	0.512	6.1	0.764	9.1
Belgium	10.666	1.380	12.9	0.695	6.5	0.685	6.4
Portugal	10.637	0.793	7.5	0.191	1.8	0.602	5.7
Denmark	5.534	0.500	9.0	0.152	2.8	0.348	6.3
EU 27	501.098	47.348	9.4	15.980	3.2	31.368	6.3

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.^[33]

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.^[34]

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.^[35]

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,^[36] 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).^[37] 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.^[38]

The Sánchez government planned to legalize around 900,000 undocumented migrants by 2027.^[39]

See also: External border of the European Union

Naturalizations

From 2005 to 2022 alone, more than 2.2 million foreigners were granted Spanish citizenship through naturalization.^[40]

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.^[41] 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.^[42]

New Spanish nationals by naturalization, 2005-2021^[43][44][45]

Year	Naturalizations
2005	42,829
2006	62,339
2007	71,810
2008	84,170
2009	79,597
2010	123,721
2011	114,599
2012	115,557
2013	261,295
2014	205,880
2015	114,351
2016	150,944
2017	66,498
2018	90,774
2019	98,954
2020	126,266
2021	202,336
2022	181,581

Immigration detention

This section is an excerpt from Immigration detention § Spain.[edit]

There are nine detention centers in Spain, known as CIEs (Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros), run by the Ministry of the Interior, which can be found in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Algeciras, Tarifa, Malaga, and in the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Tenerife.^[46]

Expulsion paperwork can be initiated when a foreign person is in one of the following situations:^[47]

1. Lacking documentation in Spanish territory.
2. Working without a work permit, even if they have a valid resident permit.
3. Be involved in activities that violate public order or interior or exterior state security or any activity contrary to Spanish interests or that could put in danger Spain's relations with other countries.
4. Be convicted inside or outside of Spain of a crime punishable by incarceration for greater than one year.
5. Hiding or falsifying their situation from the Ministry of the Interior.
6. Lacking a legal livelihood or taking part in illegal activity.

Various civil organizations (e.g. APDHA, SOS Racismo, and Andalucía Acoge) have appealed to the Supreme Court of Spain, declaring the regulations behind the CIEs null and void for violating several human rights.^[48]

Crime rates

This section is an excerpt from Immigration and crime § Spain.[edit]

A 2008 study finds that the rates of crimes committed by immigrants are substantially higher than nationals.^[49] The study finds that "the arrival of immigrants has resulted in a lack of progress in the reduction of offences against property and in a minor increase in the number of offences against Collective Security (i.e. drugs and trafficking). In the case of nationals, their contribution to the increase in the crime rate is primarily concentrated in offences against persons."^[49] By controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, the gap between immigrants and natives is reduced but not fully. The authors also find "that a higher proportions of American, non-UE European, and African immigrants tend to widen the crime differential, the effect being larger for the latter ones".^[49] The same paper provides supports for the notion that labour market conditions impact the relationship between crime and immigration. Cultural differences were also statistically detected.^[49] This study has been criticized for not using strong instruments for identifying causality: the "instruments (lagged values of the covariates and measures of the service share of GDP in a province) are not convincing in dealing with the endogeneity of migrant location choice."^[50] Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) published a study that analyzes records in the Register of Convicted in 2008. The data show that immigrants are overrepresented in the crime statistics: 70% of all crimes were committed by Spaniards and 30% by foreigners.^[51] Foreigners make up 15% of the population.^[51]

See also

• Spain portal

• 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