section_path: Demographics/Immigration
section_name: Immigration
paragraph_text: Immigration
  
  According to official Spanish statistics (INE), as of 2025, there were over 9.3 million foreign-born people in Spain, making up to 19.11% of the population, including 5.3 million (11.14%) born in a non-European country; of these, more than 6.8 million (13.96%) have foreign nationality. Spain ranks fourth in Europe, and seventh worldwide, by number of immigrants.
  
  As of the December 2024, the largest source of immigrants was Morocco (over 1 million), Colombia (856,616), Venezuela (599,769), Romania (532,456), and Ecuador (448,643). Most immigrants come from outside the EU, especially Latin America, with sizeable populations from Ukraine, China, Russia, Pakistan, Algeria, and Senegal.
  
  Historically a land of emigration, immigration to Spain has increased markedly since the 21st century, with immigrants rising from 1.6% of the population in 1998 to over 12% by 2009; in absolute terms, the number of immigrants grew from 500,000 in 1996 to 5.2 million in 2008. Spain was Europe's top recipient of migrants from 2002 to 2007, with 2.5 million arrivals. In 2005, Spain had the second highest immigration rate in the European Union, after Cyprus, and the highest in absolute numbers, with an amnesty programme increasing the legal immigrant population by 700,000.
  
  The high level of immigration is driven by a number of factors, including Spain's cultural ties with Latin America, its geographical position, the porosity of its borders, 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. A large number of EU residents retire to Spain's Mediterranean coast; in 2008, prior to the onset of the economic crisis, the Financial Times reported that Spain was the most favoured destination for Western Europeans considering a move from their own country and seeking jobs elsewhere in the EU.
  
  Until 2014, the number of immigrants decreased due to the economic crisis, with more than half a million people leaving Spain in 2011 alone—the first net migration rate in decades. However, notwithstanding economic factors, as well as policies to encourage non-EU unemployed immigrants to voluntarily depart the country, the rate of emigration remained relatively low. By 2015, net immigration had increased, and Spain has again become a major immigration destination, backed by government policies to increase the labor force and promote integration.