Immigrants contributed 1.7 points to the rise of Spanish GDP between 2022 and 2025
The regularization generates almost 160,000 registrations in Social Security
MadridImmigrant population contributed approximately 1.7 percentage points to the average annual growth of Spanish GDP (3.7%) and 0.5 points to the average annual growth of GDP per capita between 2022 and 2025, according to Pilar Cuadrado Salinas, a specialist in quantitative analysis and economic information management at the Bank of Spain, who highlighted that Spain is currently the country that contributes most to the demographic growth of the European Union thanks to immigration.
This was stated during her presentation in a session of the cycle "Structural Issues of the Spanish Economy", organized by the General Council of Economists of Spain (CGE) and the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea), dedicated on this occasion to the analysis of the migratory impact on the Spanish economy.
During the conference, several research studies were presented related to demographic transformation, the contribution of the immigrant population to economic growth, its effects on the labor market, and some of the main challenges posed by this phenomenon, mainly in terms of productivity and the effect of migration on the pension system. During the opening of the event, the president of the General Council of Economists of Spain, Miguel Ángel Vázquez Taín, highlighted that "according to the data, migratory flows, if better exploited, could generate an even more positive and sustainable effect over time on our economy".
Following this, Cuadrado presented an update of the work carried out by this institution on the economic and demographic impact of immigration in Spain, and indicated that, in Spain, "in 2024, despite representing approximately 11% of the Union's population, it accounted for nearly half of the demographic growth registered in the entire community. She also pointed out that "thanks to immigration, Spain is by far the member country that contributes most to the demographic growth of the European Union" and added that, "in addition to the demographic impact, immigration has had a notable impact on the growth of GDP and GDP per capita".
"However, the positive relationship between immigration and economic growth is very complex and requires an economic analysis that goes beyond a simple mechanical decomposition and includes both the determinants and the effects of immigration," she acknowledged.
159,097 affiliates
On the other hand, the Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, Borja Suárez, detailed this Thursday that, as of June 30, 159,097 more affiliates have been registered with Social Security as a result of the extraordinary regularization process for immigrants. In a press conference to assess the extraordinary regularization process, Suárez pointed out that it is a "snapshot" on this date and that it is "provisional data," as the process is still ongoing.
Regarding the type of employment they are in, Social Security has detailed that the regularized individuals who have registered are mostly included in the general regime of Social Security (83.4%). In the special agricultural regime, 7.9% of registrations have occurred (12,517); among the self-employed, 4.7% (7,456); and for domestic employees, 4% (6,285). By type of contract, indefinite is the prevailing modality among new registrations (77.3%), although it is lower than the total number of foreign affiliates from non-EU countries, which stands at 86.1%. The remaining 22.7% (30,101 registrations) have entered with temporary contracts.
