Spain’s Canary Islands break new record of 46,843 irregular migrant arrivals in 2024

Spain has announced it set a new record for migrant arrivals in 2024, having received 63,970 people who entered Spanish territory irregularly by land or sea, an increase of 12.5% from a year earlier.
Spain received 63,970 migrants and refugees in 2024, according to Interior Ministry data released on Thursday (2 January), of which the was majority, or at least 46,843 people, were those who entered the European country through its Canary Islands via the increasingly deadly Atlantic migration route, a second year in a row of unprecedented arrival numbers. The European country received 12.5% more migrants who arrived through irregular routes in 2024, up from 56,852 in 2023, the ministry added. The number of irregular arrivals recorded in 2023 was almost double the number on record for 2022.
According to the EU border agency Frontex, irregular crossings into the 27-country bloc from January to November 2024 fell 40% overall, but grew 19% on the treacherous Atlantic route, with Mali, Senegal and Morocco the most common nationalities attempting to cross. The Atlantic route includes departure points in Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco. A report released in December by the NGO Caminando Fronteras said that nearly a whooping 10,000 died attempting to reach the Atlantic archipelago in 2024, which is an estimated 30 people on average losing their lives daily while trying to reach Spain.
The Sahel, a vast semi-arid region in Africa, is experiencing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian rises, aggravated by years of conflict, unemployment and climate change, prompting thousands of people to attempt the crossing. “Indiscriminate attacks by armed groups and militias, insecurity, widespread human right violations, including gender-based violence and violence against children, and the effects of climate change have triggered massive displacements across the region,” according to the UN refugee agency.