What are the Largest Latin American Migrant Communities in Spain?

Spain has become a prominent destination for Latin Americans, owing to historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. These migrant communities are diverse and dynamic, contributing significantly to the country’s cultural, social, and economic fabric.

These groups have grown over the past few decades, driven by factors such as economic opportunities, political instability, and familial ties.

Here are the largest Latin American migrant communities in Spain:

Colombians

• Colombians are the largest Latin American migrant community in Spain, with over 550,000 residents primarily concentrated in Madrid, Catalonia, and Valencia.

• This migration has been driven by economic opportunities and escape from political instability in Colombia, particularly during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

• The Colombian diaspora, once pushed outside its borders due to the armed conflict, today migrates intending to increase its purchasing power. In Colombia, the minimum wage is only 326 USD.

• Madrid has become the epicenter for Colombian migrants, with more than 30,000 reported in 2023, according to data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).

• The entry of Colombians into Spain has grown exceptionally since 2015, after the signing of a bilateral agreement with the European Union that eliminated the visa requirement for tourists, which allowed this population to grow in the capital by 50% in the last eight years: from 82,000 before the treaty, to 124,451 in 2022, according to the INE.

Venezuelans

• The Venezuelan community in Spain numbers around 430,000 individuals, settling in Madrid, the Canary Islands, and Barcelona.

• Almost seven million Venezuelans have been forced to leave their country in the last decade, according to the 2022 report of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR).

• A decade ago, there were 60,000 Venezuelans in Spain. Today, the figure exceeds 430,000, a number higher than that of the Chinese diaspora in Spain (228,000), although far from the 776,000 citizens from Morocco or the 632,000 from Romania that reside in the European country.

• Coinciding with the political crisis in which the National Assembly refused to recognize Nicolás Maduro as president (and which adds to the economic crisis that has devastated the Caribbean country since 2013), Spain approved a law in 2019 that grants the residence for humanitarian reasons to Venezuelans who do not meet the conditions to obtain asylum.

• According to a 2022 report by the Venezuelan Embassy in Spain, the diaspora includes more than 5,000 doctors, more than 7,000 engineers and architects, and around 400 specialized veterinary doctors. However, less than 30% of these professionals have had access to qualified jobs within their areas of specialization.

Ecuadorians

• The Ecuadorian community in Spain is the third most important foreign community in the country with some 415,000 people.

• The largest Ecuadorian community resides in Madrid, followed by Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Region of Murcia.

• The great emigration of Ecuadorians began with the economic crisis in Ecuador in 1998-1999, reaching its peak in Spain in 2005, with half a million Ecuadorians (a number only surpassed by Moroccan immigrants in that year). Since then, the number of Ecuadorian residents in Spain has decreased until today.

• 38% of Ecuadorian migrants come from the cities of Quito and Guayaquil.

• Ecuadorians represent the largest group of foreigners who have become naturalized citizens in recent years, accounting for nearly 27% of the total. Currently, there are as many people of Ecuadorian nationality (246,188) as there are naturalized Spanish citizens who were born in Ecuador (207,909).

Argentinians

• Approximately 330,000 Argentines reside in Spain.

• 25% of the Argentine community lives in Barcelona, followed by Madrid with 16%. Other preferred cities include Málaga, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Alicante, Tarragona, and Gerona.

• Their migration has occurred in waves, often linked to periods of economic and political instability in Argentina.

• Argentinian migrants have increased until reaching the arrival of more than 26,000 individuals in the first half of 2022. These are numbers that have not been seen since the beginning of the century, when the social crisis and the so-called “corralito” took place. In those years, between 2001 and 2006, more than 180,000 people arrived in Spain.

• Argentina had the highest inflation worldwide in 2023: 211.4%, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC).

• According to the Casal Argentino in Barcelona, there are 3 main profiles among Argentinian emigrants:

  • Young people between 20 and 40 years old with professional training who enter the workforce even if it is not in areas of their training.

  • Entrepreneurs. The restaurant industry is a highly chosen sector: in Catalonia there are about 300 empanada businesses registered, of which 250 are in Barcelona.

  • Retirees, active people, who arrive with some savings or those who arrive to join their children.

Peruvians

• According to official statistics, there are around 270,000 Peru-born residents in Spain. Of these, 143,867 are Spanish citizens and 122,082 had not yet acquired Spanish citizenship.

• The three communities with the highest concentration of Peruvians are Madrid (107,690), Catalonia (68,347) and Andalusia (14,284).

• Around 3 million Peruvians –a little less than 10% of the Peruvian population– live abroad: 30.2% reside in the United States and 15.4%, in Spain.

• According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics , Peruvians migrate for economic reasons (32.7%), to reunite with family (27.2%) and to study abroad (15.2%).

• The BBC suggests that the political crisis that has hit the country for at least five years – Peru has had six presidents since 2018 – also encourages migration.

Dominicans

• Approximately 240,000 Dominicans currently reside in Spain.

• Spain is the third country with the largest Dominican migrant population, only surpassed by the United States and Puerto Rico, according to the National Directorate of Statistics (ONE).

• The cities with the largest settlement of Dominicans in Spain are Madrid with 66,152; Catalonia, 44,547; Castilla y León 11,283; Galicia 9,144; Andalusia 9,032; Valencian Community 6,695; Basque Country 4,917.

• The jobs where Dominicans are employed in Spain are the hospitality, bars and restaurants sectors, the construction industry, mechanical workshops, and handling of heavy machines; in addition to hairdressing, domestic and cleaning services, nursing, and care of the elderly.

• The labor activity rate of the Dominican population fell from 83.8% in 2011 to 62.5% in 2021. This decline has been greater among the younger adult population. There is also a significant wage gap: the study estimates that the average wage of employed Dominican workers is around 84% of that of workers in Spain.

Bolivians

• The Bolivian community in Spain, numbering around 160,000, is a growing Latin American migrant group located in Madrid, Catalonia, and Murcia.

• Emigration from Bolivia has been directed especially to Argentina, where 45.63% go, followed by Spain, 17.25%, and Chile, 13.89%.

• The Bolivian diaspora is comprised of 927,244 emigrants, which represent 7.77% of Bolivia’s population. Female emigration (53.05%) is higher than the male emigration (46.94%).

• Remittances to Bolivia reached 1,437 USD million in 2022, a historical record.

• The International Organization for Migration (IOM) states that the labor profile of the Bolivian migrant is primarily dedicated to commerce, agriculture, construction, and domestic services sectors.

Cubans

• Some 200,000 Cubans live in Spain, the highest number since records exist, as reported the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The largest number of Cubans are concentrated in Madrid, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas, Barcelona, Valencia, Balearic Islands and Alicante.

• Spain is the second country of residence for the most Cubans outside the Caribbean Island. The United States is the first one, with 1.3 million Cubans.

• Almost 70% of the Cuban population receives remittances in various forms, according to a 2023 report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), although no official figures are currently available from the Cuban government.

• In the case of political asylum requests in Spain, Cuba filed 3,082 cases in 2023 and was fifth on the list of countries. This registration represents more than double the requests of the previous period.

• Interestingly, Cuba is the second country with the most grants of Spanish nationality through the Democratic Memory Law –a law that allows the descendants of Spaniards who went into exile after the Civil War and the dictatorship to apply for a Spanish passport– with 22,479 applications approved since the law came into force. However, the Island also leads the section of denied applications (301), 32.97% of the 913 reported worldwide.