This document discusses migration patterns in Spain. It notes that Spain has experienced both significant immigration and emigration in recent decades. During the Franco regime, many Spaniards moved from rural to urban areas. More recently, Spain saw large increases in migrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe who filled jobs in agriculture and services. However, since the 2008 financial crisis, many Spanish citizens and migrants have left Spain due to high unemployment. At the same time, Spain struggles with large numbers of refugees and illegal immigrants entering from Africa, though it has taken steps like border fences to reduce flows. Overall, migration remains an ongoing challenge for Spain's population and economy.

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Migration Patterns in Spain
Natalie Gordon
December, 2016

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Migration has always been a part of Europe. In recent years, there has been backlash
from many of the counties that make up the European Union (EU) as to where refugees and
immigrants should go. Although this is nothing new to the European continent, it is getting a lot
of press, especially in countries like France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Greece. One country
that has been left out however is Spain. Spain is not only hurting from the refugee crisis and
mass influx of illegal immigrants from Africa and the middle east, but is also hurting for a
massive emigration of both its own citizens and those who have come as migrant workers in the
past.
Spain has a long history of migration as it was one of the first inhabited places on the
European continent (Alfonso). The biggest migration to Spain was that of the Islamic religion
which brought Arabs and Berbers from Africa and the middle east into Europe. But more
recently, as in the past century, there has been a massive amount of movement from without to
within Spain, but also within the country itself. During the Franco regime, there was a mass
movement of people to the cities and away from the rural parts. This lead people to go from the
south of Spain to the north, in places like Barcelona and the Basque Country. This created a
shortage of workers in rural areas which then created the market for migrant workers to come
and fill those empty spaces at the start of the democracy in the late 70’s and early 80’s (Reese
85). Between 2000and 2005, there has been a 194.2 % increase in migrants with a total number
of about 3.1 million migrants. This raised the percentage of the population of migrants from 2%
to 12% (Boswell 4). In recent years, the proximity to Africa has also made Spain the hot choice
for where an immigrant should try to get to in the EU. But with economic factors that have been
hurting the country in recent years, migration is becoming a hot topic in Spain, both in terms of
emigration and immigration.

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Going more into depth about migrant workers, they have always been a big part of the
Spanish economy since the start of their democracy. These workers came from Latin America
and Eastern Europe, mainly Romania. These migrants started to come in the 1980’s, but even
continued to come in the 90’s and even in more recent years despite their economic hardships
(Reese 85). From Latin America, the main three contributing countries to the migration
population are Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. From Eastern Europe, the main contributor is
Romania. Today, Romanian migrants have the highest number of immigrants and emigrants
from Spain. These migrants filled the jobs that no Spaniard wanted as well as the rural farming
jobs that were left open from the movement of Spaniards from the country to the city. Despite
there being little backlash and Xenophobia in the 1990’s, today, there are mixed feeling in Spain
about immigrants due to the influence of the rest of Europe as well as their extreme economic
hardships (Buck).
Since 2008, Spain has been going through an intense economic crisis that doesn’t seem to
be letting up. This is causing problems for migrants who left their home countries to escape
economic hardships. This has led to many migrants leaving. Although Spain has 13.72% of all
non EU nationals and is the fourth highest giver of visas, the exit of the migrants can still cause a
lot of problems (Eurostat, Immigration in the EU). Despite these workers leaving, there has been
numerous things being done in the government to try and keep the foreigners in the country.
Although the number of Blue Cards has gone down from 461 to 313, Spain is still the second
largest giver of the temporary residence cards which shows their need for these people to stay
(Eurostat, The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures). In 2004, the then
Spanish government tried to pass law that would greater include immigrants into the society and
give them rights they had before. This proposed act, called the Rights and Freedoms of

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Foreigners in Spain and their Social Integration, was rejected in the end as it was deemed to
liberal to be in line with EU standards (Ortega Perez). Along with this, Spain has also tried to
increase their relations with Latin American and South American countries through the
Iberoamerican Conferences. In 2006, an agreement between Spain and Colombia was made in
order to facilitate circular migration. This type of migration helps both countries and their
economies even today (“Iberoamerican Conference Focuses on Migration and Development”,
“Enhancing Development in Colombia through Temporary and Circular Labour Migration to
Spain”). Hopefully Spain will be able to keep its ever more important migrant population from
leaving with things such as the measures above, but with Spaniards themselves leaving, this
seems like it will be a problem.
In 2012, 4 years after the housing crisis, the amount of people emigrating was 140,000
more than the number of people immigrating into Spain (Buck). The movement of people,
especially the young of Spain, has since then cause the number of people in Spain to be
decreasing by 200,00 each year (“A Great Migration”). These Spaniard have gone looking for
work elsewhere as Spain still has an overall unemployment rate of above 20%, and for those
under 30, 50%. Approximately million youth emigrated from Spain in 2014 (Buck). This is
causing many to ask if they are losing the talent of Spain. Many of them are flocking to places
such as Germany, the UK, and even South and Latin America (Buck) Spain is at a steady
decrease in its population, approximately 0.16% of its population each year (INE). As it seems as
though Spain will not return to pre-crisis economy until 2027, this decrease will continue for a
while, drastically changing the population and stunting the economic growth of Spain for the
next several years (Mount). Another thing that is expected to stunt growth of the economy and
cause social problems in Spain is the recent Brexit. Many British retirees move to Spain where

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they are able to live in the sun and still receive their pensions. This will change with the Brexit
and they will no longer be able to be players in the economy. Also the people of Gibraltar will
suffer from the loss of ease to get things from mainland Spain as they will now have to through
the hassle of customs (Freyer).
Despite all of these problems with emigration, Spain is still facing a lot of problems that
have to due with the refugee crisis that is hitting all of Europe hard. From 2012 to 2014, the
amount of asylum applications has risen from 2,565 to 5,615 and the amount of resettlements
from 80 to 125 (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures).
Although these numbers seem small, especially when compared to the number of Italy and
Germany, Spain still has to deal with millions of refugees and illegal immigrants each year. This
is due to the fact that Spain is used as a hop state or a port to elsewhere. Once the immigrants and
refugees enter Spain, they have reached the EU and Schengen territory, meaning they can travel
freely. Most of the immigrants are looking to go more inland to Germany, and before Brexit, the
UK (Frayer).
In 2014, illegal immigration surged up 70% more than the previous year. These
immigrants are using the easy access point from Africa to enter Spain (Badcock). These points
include the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Canary Islands, and the point of Spain which
is only 9 km from the coast of Morocco through the strait of Gibraltar (Feldman 81-82,
Badcock). The immigrants are coming from Syria, Sub-Saharan and West Africa, and Morocco.
Since 2013, over 6 million immigrants have entered the EU through these entry points in Spain
(Badcock). These mass numbers pose a great problem for the Spanish government, border
control, and those organizations that try to help these homeless immigrants. In an effort to hold
off these mass numbers of people, Spain has decided to pass controversial laws and build 40 foot

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fences around its cities in Morocco and on the edge of the Canary Islands (Carling). This has
helped the number of immigrants entering Spain decrease into Ceuta and Melilla by 26% as well
as to the Canary Islands by 13%. Despite these decreases, many are still trying to get into Spain
by sea, which has gone up by 80% (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary,
Facts and Figures).
When those who do succeed at getting across the border, the Spanish government is still
faced with many more obstacles, as are the immigrants. Many of the immigrants do not have
paperwork or refuse to speak as to evade the possibility of being sent back to their country of
origin (Frayer). Others cannot be sent back due to the lack of treatise Spain has with other
countries and so they are then stuck to camping out in overcrowded camps and shelters (Daley).
Another way many immigrants try to find a way to stay in the country is to have a baby there, as
in Spain, babies born in their borders have residency rights (Frayer). All of these tactics
immigrants take to stay along with the mass numbers that try to enter in a single day (sometimes
up to 1,600), has made the government take drastic actions which have been criticized by the EU
(Frayer).
In 2015, a law was passed, called the Aliens Act, where by border guards could send
back immigrants without due process (Ortega Perez). This caused 16 guards to take actions
against immigrants trying to enter Spain, which lead to their deaths (Frayer). Although criticized
by the EU for the law being against their human rights laws, this was obvious call for help
(“Spain: Legislation and practice on immigration and asylum must adhere to human rights
standards”). Although Spain is the 5th highest AMIF spender, they are still not getting enough
help from the EU (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures).
Morocco has started to help by trying to stop immigrants from crossing and imprisoning them in

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their country, but this is not a solution to the problem (Daley). With their economic crisis, spain
cannot face this burden alone.
Spain has faced and will continue to face many problems with migration. The future right
now is not looking so good due to the massive amounts of people, especially the youth, exiting
the country along with the sky high unemployment rates. But, maybe the refugee crisis can be a
solution to this problem of emigration. Not only could these refugees stop the population from
shrinking, but also add to helping with the jobs that those migrant workers from South America
have left due to the crisis. The refugees are giving Spain a second chance to build up their
country again, as well as be the help that Europe needs. They only need a bit more guidance from
outside sources to really get the situation under control.

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