The arrival of irregular migrants in Spain has fallen by 20.5% in the first five months of 2023 compared to the previous year, a fall of 31.5% in the Canary Islands, to 5,914 people who have arrived in the islands in an irregular manner.
The arrival of irregular migrants in Spain has fallen by 20.5% in the first five months of 2023 compared to the previous year, a fall of 31.5% in the Canary Islands, to 5,914 people who have arrived in the islands irregularly.
On the other hand, the number of migrants entering via the coast of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands has grown by 25.2%, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior of Spain.
In total, 10,824 people have entered Spain irregularly so far this year (13,620 in 2022), of which 95.6% (10,348) have done so by sea and 42.2% of these via the coasts of the mainland and the Balearic Islands.
Specifically, between 1 January and 15 June of this year, 4,369 people entered irregularly via the mainland and the Balearic Islands, compared to 3,491 a year earlier. There has also been an increase of 6.8% in the number of small boats in which these people have reached these coasts: 360 were recorded in 2023, while in the same period in 2022 there were 337.
However, the main route of entry, the Canary Islands – through which 57.1% of the migrants arriving in Spain have arrived – has registered a decrease so far in 2023 of 31.5%, with the entry of 5,914 people.
Entries by sea into Ceuta and Melilla are also down compared to last year. In the first autonomous city, the arrival of 22 irregular migrants has been recorded, compared to 36 between 1 January and 15 June 2022; and in the second, from 63 arrivals a year ago, to 43 so far in 2023.
Ceuta and Melilla also recorded a drop in entries through their land borders. In this case, entries in Melilla have fallen by 94.5%, since last year at this time 954 migrants had entered by this route, while 52 have been recorded so far this year. In Ceuta, meanwhile, they have gone from 448 between 1 January and 15 June 2022 to 424 in the same period in 2023.
