The great European migration: Why are eight times more Italians moving to Spain than Spaniards moving to Italy?

Sunday, Jun 8, 2025

El Confidencial

Italian migration to Spain is rising due to better quality of life and cultural affinity, despite cost and bureaucracy challenges.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

A growing number of Italians are migrating to Spain, reversing historical migration patterns from Italy and becoming a significant demographic presence, with over 325,000 Italian passport holders now residing in Spain. This influx is driven by perceived advantages in Spain, such as dynamic economic environments (especially in Catalonia), better quality of life, improved work-life balance, and superior public services compared to Italy’s stagnant economy and lack of a national minimum wage. While some cite social progress and open attitudes towards diversity in Spain, others attribute the move to personal justifications. Cultural affinity is also a major factor, as many Italians view Spain as very similar to their home country. Despite positive aspects like cultural closeness and ease of integration, challenges such as rising cost of living and bureaucratic hurdles temper long-term optimism regarding the sustainability of this migration flow.

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