The arrival of irregular migrants to Spain has decreased by 20.5% in the first five months of 2023 compared to the previous year, although there has been a 25.2% growth in irregular entries along the peninsular coast and Baleres, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
In total, 10,824 people have entered Spain irregularly so far this year (13,620 in 2022), of which 95.6% (10,348) have done so by sea and 42.2% of these by through the coasts of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Specifically, through the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, the irregular entry of 4,369 people between January 1 and June 15 of this year has been registered, compared to the 3,491 that did so a year earlier. The number of boats in which these people have reached these coasts has also grown by 6.8%: 360 are those recorded in 2023, while in the same period of 2022 there were 337.
However, the majority route of entry, the Canary Islands -through which 57.1% (5,914 people) have arrived- has registered a decrease so far in 2023 of 31.5%, with the entry of 8,628 people.
The entries by sea in Ceuta and Melilla also decreased compared to last year. In the first autonomous city, the arrival of 22 migrants irregularly has been recorded, compared to the 36 who did so between January 1 and June 15, 2022; and in the second they have gone from 63 arrivals a year ago, to 43 so far in 2023.
Ceuta and Melilla registered a decrease, in addition, in the entries through their land borders. In this case, entries into Melilla fell by 94.5%, since last year at this time 954 migrants had entered through this route, while so far this year there have been 52. In Ceuta, due to its part, they have gone from 448 between January 1 and June 15, 2022 to 424 in the same period of 2023.
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