Between 200,000 and 250,000 immigrants are needed in Spain by 2050, for the country to maintain its welfare state, indicating the importance that immigration has for the EU country that is home to 8.5 million immigrants.
Elma Saiz, the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, made the statement following the Congress approval of the regularisation of half a million immigrants, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
According to Minister Saiz, Spain should take advantage of the increasing numbers of immigrants in the country, saying, “this is the present and the future.”
According to various institutions, between now and 2050, we will need between 200,000 and 250,000 more immigrants to contribute to our welfare state.
Irregular Migration in Spain on the Rise
The initiative to regularise 500,000 immigrants was opposed by the Vox party, which accuses the Government and its partners of being irresponsible and that it is further prompting human trafficking.
Spain has always been affected by irregular immigration. In 2022, more than 50,000 undocumented migrants reached the country, showing an increase of 82 per cent in border crossings. The Canary and Balearic routes are the most frequented.
However, the current government, run by Pedro Sanchez, is not backing down and it is set to welcome more immigrants in the upcoming years, as Minister Saiz previously highlighted the importance of immigration for Spain’s economy.
The priority is to increase the employability of Spaniards, but also to achieve that volume of foreign workers in a framework of regulated, orderly and safe migration.
According to her, the Spanish labour market has thousands of unfilled vacancies, and immigrant workers contribute ten per cent of Social Security as well as only one per cent of spending.
However, these immigrants coming to Spain for employment, more than often end up in the streets, without future prospects. This leads to poverty as well as crime rise, especially in certain neighbourhoods.
Research by Institute Elcano shows that the percentage of the population at risk of poverty in Spain differs with 56 per cent of non-EU immigrants living in Spain being at risk of poverty, compared to 16 per cent of Spaniards.
Data by Statista reveals that the net migration of foreign nationals to Spain in 2022 was the highest among Colombian nationals (152,634), compared to Ukraine (85,978) and Venezuela (72,086).
