Study: Over 1 in 5 Newborns in Spain Have Moroccan Mothers

According to the report of the Demographic Observatory of the CEU San Pablo University, Spain is experiencing an unprecedented increase in the number of babies. Nearly a third of babies born in Spain in 2021 (32.4%) had at least one foreign parent, reaching even the threshold of 40%, or even exceeding it, in provinces like Madrid, Barcelona or Guadalajara, the study explains, stating that 22.4% of babies have a mother of Moroccan origin. At the origin of this situation, the notable increase in the immigrant population in recent decades. The observatory mentions a growth of six and a half million additional foreigners residing in Spain compared to 25 years ago. In less than thirty years, a fifth of the Spanish population is made up of immigrants. A "demographic change without precedent", according to the study.

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Entitled "Immigration: one fifth of today’s Spain, more than a quarter of the future", the study examines the foreign population residing in Spain. It also analyzes its particularities according to the territories, the country of origin, the fertility patterns and the comparisons with the Spaniards. According to the mother’s origin, the majority (42%) were Amerindian, 28% African (of which 80% Moroccan, i.e. 22.4% of the overall percentage), 22% European (mainly from Eastern Europe and Romania) and 7% Asian (mainly Pakistani), it is further specified.

The study concludes: "Morocco is now the country that contributes the most to births outside its territory; although by regions, and since the middle of 2015, the foreign community that has increased the most is the Ibero-American one, followed by the African and the Asian (with the Chinese and Pakistani population at the forefront)." And to add: "As for the countries, after migrants of Moroccan origin, the most numerous are Colombians, followed by Romanians, Ecuadorians, Venezuelans, Argentines, Britons, Peruvians, French and Chinese."