Loaded with future
There is an objective argument in favour of immigration to Spain, which is undoubtedly based on demographic reasons. There can (and should) be a debate on the regulation of flows, the most appropriate integration models and on what reception programmes and processes should be like, but we find it hard to argue that Spain needs people from other countries to settle in its territory in order to halt its demographic decline. The data provided by the National Institute of Statistics on this subject demonstrate this. Last June 8 the INE published the provisional data (to be consolidated next December) of population figures as of January 1, 2020 and the migration statistics for 2019. The total population of Spain increased by 392,921 people in 2019 reaching 47,329,981 on 1st January (the first time that the figure exceeded 47 million on 1st January). This is the highest growth since 2008, when the population increased by 570,333 people.
If we analyse in more detail the causes of this increase, we see that the natural balance (the difference between births and deaths) was negative, 57,146 people less (357,924 births compared to 415,070 deaths). The cause of the total increase in the population is to be found in a positive migratory balance of 451,391 persons (748,759 immigrants from abroad and 297,368 emigrations to foreign countries). 88.75% of these immigrants arriving in 2019 were foreign nationals, as compared with the 11.25% who had Spanish nationality.
As the sociologist expert in migration Alejandro Portes recently pointed out, in the Spanish context (that of a country with late immigration experiences, "rich" but also "old", with a very low fertility rate) immigration is presented as a decisive factor for the slowdown in the demographic fall. In our opinion, it is important to take this fact into account, as we see in it the most solid basis for "recategorising" immigration: to stop seeing it as a problem and to consider it as a solution. Extending the reasoning, this vision allows us, for example, to establish reception programmes that connect migratory flows with the most depopulated geographical areas of our country.
The fact is that considering immigration as a problem is by no means a cliché from the past, but rather a previous idea deeply rooted in many European citizens. To give a recent example, the BBVA Foundation's European Values Survey (published in September 2019), which analyses a wide range of values and attitudes among the adult population in five European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain), includes immigration in the area of "concerns about global challenges", together with climate change, the reception of refugees and "fake news". The question asked about values and attitudes in relation to immigration is as follows: "To what extent do you believe that the following issues do or do not constitute a serious problem for your country", the issues being climate change, terrorism, a cyber-attack and immigration. The scale (from 0 to 10) considers 0 "not a serious problem" and 10 "a very serious problem". In other words, it is assumed that immigration is always a problem, more or less serious.
The adoption of a historical perspective on international and interregional labour migration, within and outside Europe, is essential to replace these firmly established negative assumptions. In this sense, research such as that carried out by Saskia Sassen (expert in migration and globalisation, Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences 2013, reveals how labour migration has been a strategic component in the history of urbanisation and industrialisation in Europe over the last three centuries, and allows us to better interpret current migration processes, which can lead to the development of more intelligent and effective approaches to migration policies.
Luis Guerra Salas, Professor of Spanish Language at the European University of Madrid, is one of the main researchers of the INMIGRA3-CM project, financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund