Spain accepted 63,970 migrants and refugees who arrived through irregular routes last year, including 46,843 people in the Canary Islands.
At least 46,843 people reached Spain’s Canary Islands in 2024 through the increasingly deadly Atlantic migration route, the country’s interior ministry said.
The European country accepted 63,970 migrants who arrived through irregular routes last year, the vast majority in the Atlantic archipelago, up from 56,852 in 2023, the ministry said on Thursday.
The EU’s border agency Frontex noted that irregular crossings into the bloc from January to November 2024 fell 40 percent overall, but rose 19 percent on the Atlantic route, with people from Mali, Senegal and Morocco trying to cross. .
Years of conflict in the Sahel region, unemployment and the effect of climate change on farming communities are among the reasons why people attempt the transition.
The Atlantic route, which includes departure points in Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco, is also the deadliest in the world.
Last week, at least 69 people, including 25 Malians, died after a boat heading from West Africa to the Canary Islands capsized in Morocco.
A report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras last month said at least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea between January 1 and December 5, 2024.
Caminando Fronteras added that it was a 50 percent increase from 2023 and the highest number since its records began in 2007, and attributed it to the use of wrecked boats, dangerous waters and a lack of rescue resources.
Migrant aid group Walking Borders also blamed a lack of action or arbitrary rescues and the criminalization of migrants for the rise in deaths at sea. The aid group has accused European governments of “prioritizing immigration control over the right to life”.
