Irregular immigration soars in 2024 to reach more than 40,000 arrivals, the highest number in history

2024 is already the year with the most arrivals of irregular migrants has Canary Islands of history. More than 40,000 people have arrived in the archipelago since the start of the year, having already exceeded the data recorded for the entire year 2023, a total of 39,910.

According to data on irregular immigration from the Ministry of the Interior published this Monday, 39,713 people They arrived in the Canary Islands until November 15 and only in the last three days have they arrived 483 other people towards the archipelago, according to figures provided by the emergency services.

Last Saturday a canoe arrived in El Hierro with 200 people and this very Monday they arrived two other cayucos with 249 and 34 migrants in Tenerife, which reveals that, six weeks before the end of 2024, it is already the year with the most irregular arrivals to the Canary Islands in history, reaching 40,196.

After a month of October during which this type of arrivals had decreased, with 3,279 migrants throughout the month, Only the first half of November left a figure that exceeded that recorded for the entire month of September. (5,284) and any other previous month, with the sole exception of January, when 7,270 people reached the archipelago.

It was only in the first three days of November that Salvamento Marítimo was saved 1,893 people in 31 interventions -especially in the waters near the islands of Lanzarote and El Hierro- and 55 deaths were recorded.

According to the Interior report, last year at this time they had arrived in the Canary Islands. 32,209 people, or 7,504 fewer than in 2024which translates to an increase of 23.3%.

Since the start of 2024, they are already 587 ships having reached the archipelago after overcoming what is considered one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world.

In total, until now they have arrived in Spain irregularly, by all means, 54,216 migrants15.8% more than during the same period of 2023, and the vast majority (51,849) did it by sea aboard 1,539 precarious vessels, or 6,197 more people than in 2023 .

Arrivals by sea to the rest of Spain

Arrivals by sea to the peninsula and the Balearic Islands also saw significant growth during these first fortnight of November, up to 1,362 migrantsalmost the same as in the entire month of October (1,501).

However, in the cumulative figure, this figure represents a decrease compared to the same period of 2023 of 1,129 people, since at that time 13,216 people had arrived by sea in the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

Concerning irregular arrivals by land, which include access to swimmingin Ceuta they increased by 126.3% compared to 2023 to reach 2,281 so far in 2024 and, in the case of Melilla, they went from 151 to 86.