Immigration in Spain
May 28th, 2008
Two of every three foreigners who have arrived in Spain in recent years had jobs in their homelands and decided to emigrate in search of a better quality of life, says a survey released by the INE statistics institute.
The 2007 edition of the National Immigrants Survey addressed that subject for the first time and also highlighted the fact that there currently are 2.16 million homes in which at least one adult was born outside Spain.
The fact that one of every four foreigners who have gotten married in the Iberian nation over the past 15 years wed a Spanish citizen also reveals the extent to which Spain – historically an immigrant country – has been socially transformed by the immigration phenomenon.
The purpose of the survey is “to establish a first broad panoramic view of resident migrants”, INE said in a statement, adding that it does not seek to estimate the current number of foreign-born people in the country but rather “their structures and behavior.”
Spain has experienced a rapid increase in immigration in recent years, due both to a robust economy and the country’s geographical and historical ties with regions of the world that have experienced political or economic turmoil, such as North Africa and Latin America.
A total of 39.2 million people lived in Spain in 1995, just 500,000 of whom – or just over 1 percent – were foreign-born.
According to an estimate published in June 2007 by INE, Spain’s population currently stands at 45.1 million, 4.48 million – nearly 10 percent – of whom are foreign-born.
The public face of immigration for many has been the masses of African citizens who have crammed into makeshift vessels in a desperate attempt to reach the southern coast of the Iberian peninsula and Spain’s Canary Islands.
But the report published Thursday by INE indicates that just 1 percent of all immigrants seeking the “European dream” arrive by that route, compared with the hundreds of thousands of foreigners – above all Latin Americans – who have arrived by plane.
Another notable characteristic of the immigrants who choose Spain as their destination is that they do not travel there via other countries; almost nine of every 10 immigrants who have reached Spanish territory arrived directly from their country of origin.
Meanwhile, another poll on the impact of immigration – which was carried out on behalf of the UNESPA insurance industry group and released Wednesday – revealed that 70 percent of Latin American immigrants who live in Spain intend to stay.
The survey, for which foreigners who have lived in Madrid and the surrounding region for more than two years were interviewed, also showed that this desire to remain in the country exists despite obstacles such as unemployment or low incomes.
Almost 20 percent of those surveyed are unemployed and almost half earn less than 1,000 euros (about 1,570) per month, yet the same proportion of these migrants still send money to their relatives back home.
Forty-four percent of the respondents have a steady job and 26 percent are seasonally employed. Another 11 percent are self-employed, a figure that is three times higher among Asian immigrants.
A further indication of immigrants’ desire to remain in Spain is the fact that 37.2 percent are saving for retirement, which is higher than the rate among Spanish citizens. Among migrants, Latin Americans are the most likely to sock away money for the future.
“Latinos are the ones who most (safeguard their future),” the president of UNESPA, Pilar Gonzalez de Frutos said.
Full story from surinenglish.com
