Recent Immigration in Spain

In the past 12 years Spain has undergone one of the fastest and most intense immigration processes of any developed country. From a demographic point of view, this process has contributed to positive population growth: without it, growth would have been zero. In addition, it has helped to “rejuvenate” an aging Spanish population, as the average age of incoming immigrants is considerably lower than that of natives. From an economic point of view, two issues are dealt with in this study: first, there seems to be a positive assimilation process in terms of occupational upgrading for all immigrants apart from Africans; second, immigration leads to a shift of less well-educated natives towards more highly qualified occupations.