Spain is betting on immigrants to boost its economy

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Spain is looking to immigrants to help boost its economy and fill gaps in its workforce.

Speaking to parliament on Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promoted migration as a means of fueling prosperity in the country, arguing that it offered an effective way of tackling what he called a “demographic challenge.”

Spain’s economy and labor market face significant challenges from an aging population and low birth rate.

Eurostat data put Spain’s birth rate at 1.16 births per woman in 2022, the second-lowest in the EU, while the Spanish central bank has said that population aging is “one of the greatest structural challenges facing the Spanish economy.”

Sánchez said that migration may offer the answer to those problems, saying it had historically been one of “the great drivers of the development of nations.”

“Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed, poor country,” he said, adding that the government would introduce a series of initiatives to make it easier for migrants to come.

Sánchez also used his speech to dispel certain myths and “disinformation” about immigrants, saying that “hatred and xenophobia have been — and are — the greatest destroyer of nations.”

“The reality, ladies and gentlemen, is that foreigners are neither better nor worse than us. They are equal. They are people with their virtues, their defects, their dreams, and their fears,” he said.

It comes as other EU members have sought to clamp down on immigration.

Germany has tightened border controls to tackle irregular migration, while Sweden and Finland have both announced anti-immigration plans.

In the US, the run-up to the presidential election has also seen immigration come under the spotlight.

Former President Donald Trump has drawn particular attention to the issue, often using inflammatory rhetoric to describe immigrants.

Trump has also vowed to enact the “largest domestic deportation in American history” should he be elected in November.