Moroccans Are the Largest Foreign Community in Spain

Rabat – About 734,402 Moroccans are currently living in Spain, making them the European country’s largest foreign community, a report from Spain’s National Institute for Statistics (INE) revealed.

INE published the report on Wednesday, January 8. The statistics, however, date back to July 1, 2019.

Between January and July 2019, around 34,885 Moroccans emigrated to Spain, while about 9,396 Moroccans left. The traffic of Moroccans leaving and entering the country led to an increase in the number of Moroccans living in the country of 20,672 people, around 2.9%, in only six months.

Moroccans represent the highest number of new entries to the country in the first six months of 2019 with 34,885 new arrivals, followed by Colombians (34,433 new immigrants), and Venezuelans (26,202).

However, Moroccans are also the second-largest community to leave Spain between January and July. Romanians represent the highest number, with around 16,525 Romanians leaving Spain.

The majority of Moroccans who left Spain between January and July arrived in the European country in 2016 and 2017, notes the report.

The increase in the number of Moroccans by more than 20,000 was the third biggest increase in the first six months of 2019. The number of Colombians increased by 27,920 and that of Venezuelans by 24,238.

While Moroccans are the largest foreign community in Spain, Romanians are also present in large numbers, around 669,222, followed by British (295,067) and Italian immigrants (256,269).

Moroccans represent around 1.56% of the population of Spain and about 14.62% of the population of foreign nationals.

In an earlier report, INE revealed that people from Morocco are also the top foreign community receiving Spanish citizenship.

In 2018, around 15,398 Moroccans became Spanish citizens, making up 16.7% of the country’s newest citizens.

The same report announced that the number of Moroccans with dual-nationality living in Spain had reached 238,000, while the number of Moroccans living illegally in Spain is estimated at 250,000.