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Marrakech – The Morocco-to-Spain and Morocco-to-France migration corridors rank among the top 10 involving African countries, the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) World Migration Report 2026 shows.
Each corridor accounts for approximately 1.1 million Moroccan-born residents in the two European countries, for a combined total of around 2.2 million. Shaped by labor migration, postcolonial ties, and geographic proximity, the two corridors reflect decades of accumulated migratory movements.
The report was released during the International Migration Review Forum week in New York on May 5, placing the Morocco-Spain corridor fifth among the largest African migration corridors in 2024. The Morocco-France corridor comes in eighth. The Algeria-to-France corridor, with close to 1.5 million migrants, ranks fourth.
The IOM places all three alongside other North African migration routes, including Egypt to Saudi Arabia, noting they partly reflect labor migration and partly reflect historical and geographic links.
It also puts Morocco among the top African countries of origin for emigrants in 2024. Morocco ranks third, behind Egypt and Sudan, but ahead of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Algeria, and Zimbabwe. The gender split among Moroccan emigrants is relatively balanced, according to the report.
Yet migration trends across North Africa continue to show a slight predominance of male migrants, reflecting a longstanding pattern in the region where men often migrate independently for work. Egypt stands out as the most pronounced case, with a far greater share of male than female emigrants.
Beyond the corridors: The global scale
On a global scale, the report estimates there were 304 million international migrants by mid-2024, about 3.7% of the world’s population. The number of international migrant workers grew by more than 30 million between 2013 and 2022, underlining migration’s central role in the global economy.
Europe and Asia together host the majority of the world’s migrant population. Europe had approximately 94 million international migrants in 2024, while Asia hosted 92 million. The two regions account for 61% of the global total. North America followed at 61 million (20%), Africa at 10%, Latin America and the Caribbean at 6%, and Oceania at 3%.
The IOM notes that much of Europe’s migration is intraregional. Just under half of the 94 million migrants in Europe were born in the region itself. Immigration remains a key driver of population growth for many European countries, offsetting the effects of aging populations and declining birth rates.
Asia recorded the fastest migrant growth between 2005 and 2024, adding nearly 41 million people, a 79% increase. Europe followed with an increase of 27 million.
Financial flows from migrants remain significant. Remittances were projected to reach $905 billion in 2024, with $685 billion going to low- and middle-income countries. These flows now exceed official development assistance and foreign direct investment combined. India, Mexico, and the Philippines remained the top three recipients, receiving a combined $245 billion.
The report warns, however, that the cost of sending remittances remains high. The global average for sending $200 stood at 6.4% in 2023, more than double the Sustainable Development Goal target of 3% by 2030.
Meanwhile, global displacement reached record levels. More than 120 million people were displaced by the end of 2024, including refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons. Internal displacement alone hit 83 million, the highest figure ever recorded. The IOM estimates 65.8 million internal displacements occurred in 2024, with 45.8 million linked to disasters and 20.1 million to conflict and violence.
“Across the world, migration helps drive jobs, economic growth, stability, and social cohesion,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said. She added that when states cooperate at regional and global levels, migration is better managed, delivering stronger benefits for economies and communities.
The report stresses that restricting legal migration pathways does not stop migration. Instead, it pushes people toward irregular and more dangerous routes, increasing risks for migrants and costs for states. Access to migration opportunities remains uneven, with pathways expanding for higher-income countries while narrowing for those in lower-income contexts.
The IOM calls on governments to expand safe and regular migration pathways, reduce remittance costs, strengthen regional cooperation, and improve data collection as part of more inclusive, evidence-based migration governance.
Read also: Morocco Thwarted 73,640 Irregular Migration Attempts in 2025
