New Statistics on Foreign Population in Spain

Recent data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) reveals that 20 percent of the population in Spain is foreign-born, a significant increase in recent years, according to El Pais.

Currently, there are approximately 10 million foreigners residing in Spain, which translates to one in five individuals. The INE’s statistics indicate that the foreign-born demographic has surged since 2002, with an increase of 2 million people over the past three years alone.

Breaking it down by origin, around half of the foreign-born population is from the Americas, followed by 27% from Europe, 17% from Africa, and 6% from Asia.

Among the countries of origin, Morocco leads with 1.1 million residents in Spain. This is followed closely by Colombia, nearly at 1 million, and Venezuela, which has about 700,000 citizens living there.

Romania ranks fourth, yet its foreign-born population has experienced a notable decline from 750,000 in 2012 to roughly 500,000. Notably, 26 percent of Spain’s total population of foreign-born individuals are between the ages of 20 and 64.

This statistical update comes amidst Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government’s plan to initiate amnesty for 500,000 illegal immigrants, potentially starting this week.

The government intends to offer this amnesty despite significant opposition, with about 70 percent of citizens against it. The requirements are relatively lax: undocumented immigrants need to have lived in Spain for a specified duration, hold a valid passport, and have no criminal history.

Last week, European Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Magnus Brunner cautioned that Sánchez’s amnesty plan could have serious implications for the European Union, according to an internal EU document.

Sánchez aims to execute the amnesty via a royal decree, bypassing parliamentary approval. The government anticipates processing as many as 750,000 applications, with half a million expected to benefit from the amnesty.

Moreover, a Spanish think tank, Funcas, estimates around 840,000 undocumented immigrants currently reside in Spain, a number that has reportedly increased “eight times” since 2017. This group makes up about 17% of all non-EU foreigners in the country.

Most of those likely to benefit from the upcoming amnesty are expected to come from Colombia, Peru, and Honduras, where there is a notable gap between legal and illegal immigrant populations.