Spain's interior ministry reported that while arrivals of undocumented migrants rose in November 2025, overall numbers had dropped by almost 30 percent compared with the same eleven-month period in 2024.
As of November 30, a total of 34,251 undocumented migrants had arrived in Spain so far this year.
An increase in arrivals was seen in November compared with the previous months. However, compared with the previous year, there was a 29.9 percent drop, according to the figures published on Tuesday (December 2) by the Spanish interior ministry.
Most of the arrivals on precarious vessels
Most of the migrants that arrived this year came via sea on precarious vessels -- 30,692 people. A total of 1,154 boats had been disembarked in 2025 as of November 30: a 29.2 percent drop on 2024.
The number of migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands dropped by 59.4 percent in the first 11 months of the year compared with the previous year, for a total of 24,619 fewer people.
Nonetheless, also here there was a slight increase in November with 2,708 people: the highest since January.
The Balearic Islands route saw a reduction from 453 arrivals in October to 408 in November. However, the annual total was up by 28.3 percent compared with 2024, with peaks in the summer months.
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70-80 percent of migrants arriving by sea request asylum
The number of migrant boat disembarking operations dropped from 740 in October to 574 in November, with an overall decrease of 8.7 percent since the beginning of the year compared with the same period in 2024.
The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla saw an increase in land arrivals. Ceuta recorded 274 arrivals in November (+39.4 percent compared with 2024), while Melilla saw 291 (+219.8 percent).
According to a report by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), between 70 and 80 percent of migrants arriving via sea request asylum, fleeing conflict, persecution, and grave human rights violations in their countries of origin.
In 2025, at least 400 people died along the Canary Islands route and 216 while seeking to arrive on the peninsula or the Balearic Islands, according to UNHCR.
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