Migratory Flows

Migration is a phenomenon inherent to humankind and, therefore, to global society. At the international level, demographic and geostrategic developments in different world regions have led to migration becoming one of the main determinants of socioeconomic development and of relations between States.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, approximately 281 million people, 3.6% of the world population, were international migrants. Additionally, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are more than 117.3 million forcibly displaced persons in the world, including 36.4 million refugees and 73.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).

For all these reasons, over the past few years, the European Union and the United Nations have placed priority focus on migration and have developed an institutional and legal architecture to address migration flows in a concerted and effective manner, adopting a human rights-based approach, in order to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration.

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How is Spain parti​​cipating?

International le​​vel

Spain pursues an effective, solidarity-based migration policy, participates actively in international migration forums and is committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically to target 10.7 of Sustainable Development Goal 10 to “facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies”. Beyond its borders, Spain promotes an approach to managing migration, in cooperation with partner countries, that is constructive, preventive, comprehensive and balanced.

Within the framework of the United Nations, the path set by the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, endorsed by Spain, is particularly important. Since its adoption in 2018, the Member States that endorsed the Compact have submitted progress reports in the context of the International Migration Review Forums that are held every four years, to assess the implementation of the Compact and to identify areas for improvement. States may also voluntarily participate in interim regional reviews, which are intended to lend continuity to the process. Spain has taken part in all of them, always involving civil society and the different levels of the Administration, and fully applying the whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches advocated by the Compact. Spain also co-chaired the Regional Review in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region in May 2024. The second International Migration Review Forum was held in May 2026.

Spain is firmly committed to multilateralism in the management of migration, based on respect for human rights, international cooperation and the pursuit of sustainable solutions. In this regard, it works within the Council of Europe and collaborates with the main UN migration agencies—IOM and UNHCR—supporting their initiatives for the protection of migrants and refugees, the promotion of safe and orderly migration channels and the strengthening of global migration governance. Similarly, Spain promotes constructive interregional dialogue on migration in the framework of the Ibero-American community of nations. Through these spaces, Spain reaffirms its commitment to effective migration governance and the promotion of sustainable, globally coordinated solutions.

At the bilateral level, Spain collaborates with the authorities in countries of origin and transit across the globe, paying particular attention to its Ibero-American partners and to its Atlantic and Western Mediterranean partners, maintaining, with all of them, a broad framework of dialogue based on mutual interest. Spain offers technical support and engages in sustained efforts to build institutional capacities, focused on preventing and combating irregular migration and people smuggling, and creating legal, orderly and safe pathways for labour mobility.

Europe​​an Union

The EU's regional migration dialogues with third States are valuable instruments for addressing migration. These include:

• The Rabatprocess (co-founded by Spain in 2006).
• The Khartoum process (2014).

Both of these processes were established as platforms for dialogue on interregional migration between the EU, its Member States and partner countries in Africa and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Cádiz Political Declaration and Action Plan were adopted at the most recent Rabat Process Ministerial Conference, held in Spain in December 2022, establishing a road map for progress on the aforementioned objectives.

The two Processes were harmonised at the 2015 Valletta Summit, with the adoption of a Joint Action Plan establishing five pillars for comprehensive migration management:

1. Benefits of migration for development
2. Root causes of migration
3. Legal migration and mobility
4. Protection and asylum
5. Combating irregular migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings

Numerous thematic meetings, expert workshops and meetings on best practices in migration management are held within the framework of these Processes and of the Prague and Budapest Processes.

Spain also collaborates with key institutions in the field of migration within the framework of the Europea​n Union, including Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency), created in 2004, and the EUAA (European Union Agency for Asylum), created in 2010.

The European Union adopted a European Agenda on Migration in 2015. Subsequently, during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the second half of 2023, a political agreement was reached on the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was adopted in May 2024. The Pact establishes new common rules and procedures to ensure regular, orderly and safe migration flows based on a balance between solidarity and responsibility. The Pact will begin to be applied at EU level in June 2026.

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