The Economic Impact of Migration

For much of the 20th century, Spain experienced significant net emigration. But over the last decade, the net flow has reversed and Spain has become an immigration country. A number of factors, including its geographic position, historical links with Latin American countries, and a strong growth performance compared with most other EU countries, has made Spain an attractive recent estination for migrants. With the sharp rise in the inflow of immigrants, Spain is facing the challenge of defining an overall policy on immigration. And the challenges are numerous. These include most importantly decisions on the size of the immigrant inflow and the way immigrants should be selected in the case of non-EU immigrants, ways to cope with the still large number of illegal immigrants and means to integrate better the immigrants that stay.