Compared to the other western European nations, Spain has a quite distinct stance on migration. The Spanish GDP has increased in tandem with immigration – The Guardian reports.
The Economist dubbed Spain’s economy the greatest in the world in 2024, making it the most buzzed economy in Europe. This is partly due to the government’s remarkably different stance on migration, according to analysts.
When Spain’s prime minister issued a severe warning on migration towards the end of last year, this disparity was exposed. Pedro Sánchez, however, was determined to unite the nation behind a radically different strategy, in contrast to his colleagues in Italy, Germany, or France. In October, he told lawmakers, “Spain must decide between being a closed-off, poor country or an open and prosperous country.” “That’s how easy it is.”
Sánchez claimed that migration was not only a humanitarian issue but also the only practical way to expand the economy and maintain the welfare state in a nation with one of the lowest birthrates in the EU.
The Economic Wonder of Spain
Months later, economic data appears to support his position: Spain’s GDP grew by 3.2 percent last year. This greatly exceeded Italy’s 0.5 percent growth, France’s 1.1percent expansion, and Germany’s 0.2percent decrease. Additionally, the number was higher than the Netherlands’ 0.8 percent growth and Britain’s 0.9 percent growth in overall GDP last year.
Javier Díaz-Giménez, an economics professor at the IESE Business School, told the Guardian that the movement of people was essential to this expansion. “Many tourists and immigrants have participated in it.”
A record 94 million tourists traveled to Spain last year, a 10% increase over the year before, generating employment in lodging facilities, dining establishments, and other tourism-related industries. Because migrants have filled the vacancies in a labor market where the working-age population is aging, Spain has been able to take advantage of high migration rates and push unemployment levels to their lowest levels since 2008.
In a recent study, JPMorgan economists pointed out that immigration has been a noteworthy aspect of Spain’s recent performance. “At nearly three-quarters of a million people, 2022 saw the highest net migration in ten years.”As a result, the working-age population almost doubled in comparison to other western European nations.
Approximately 409,000 of the 468,000 positions generated in Spain last year were filled by migrants or dual-national individuals, many of whom came from Latin America but also from Europe and Africa. According to JPMorgan, “the Bank of Spain’s analysis indicates that immigration contributed more than 20 percent to the nearly 3 percent GDP per capita income growth during 2022-2024.”
The Spanish situation occurs while nations throughout Europe struggle with an apparently unsolvable problem. Ageing populations are reducing the number of workers who can sustain the welfare state and pay for pensions, while far-right and right-wing parties vie for votes by promoting anti-immigrant sentiment.
The low fertility rate will cause a significant decline in population in the majority of European nations between now and 2100. For instance, assuming zero percent immigration, Spain’s population is predicted to decrease by half by the end of the century, from 47 million to 24 million.