Migration in Spain: Trends, Routes, Effects and Environmental Impact

Current Migration and Consequences in Spain

In recent decades Spain has become an immigration country. The presence of immigrants is mainly from Europe, the Americas, and Africa. At present the flow of immigrants exceeds that of emigrants.

The consequences of immigration are:

• Population growth.
• Migrants occupy low-paid jobs in the service sector.
• Migrants contribute to paying the pensions of retirees.

Relationship Between Nature and Society

The enormous consumption of natural resources by the most developed countries has proven unsustainable:

• The over-exploitation of resources.
• The pollution of the environment.

The serious consequences of human activity have fostered ecological awareness and a culture of sustainable development.

Unequal Distribution of Planet Resources

The location of natural resources accounts for the distribution of population in the world; people tend to concentrate in places where resources are more abundant.

Environmental Impacts: Water

The great pressure that humans exert on the environment causes the deterioration and depletion of natural resources. This is what is known as environmental impacts; these are the result of the overexploitation of natural resources or industrial activity.

Migration Routes

The globalization of the economy has created huge differences between poor countries and welfare countries. These differences lead to very strong migration flows from poor areas to rich countries.

Effects of Migration

There are economic effects because the savings migrant workers manage to raise are transferred to countries of origin. Migrants also benefit the economies of destination countries as they are young labor and willing to perform diverse tasks, which revitalizes the internal labor market.

Migrations in Spain

Spain was a country of emigrants from the second half of the nineteenth century. The primary destinations were Latin America and Europe. Between 1911 and 1915, 800,000 people emigrated to Latin America. Since the 1960s emigration headed to industrialized European countries. Migrants came especially from Andalusia and Galicia.

Within Spain, migration from the countryside to the city began in the nineteenth century with movements to Catalonia and the Basque Country and gained great strength in the mid-twentieth century with Spanish industrial growth. Migration flows headed for Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, the Basque Country, etc.