Latin American migration to Europe is the diaspora of Latin Americans to the continent of Europe, dating back to the first decades of the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas.file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Downloads/Dialnet-IndiosYMestizosEnLaEspanaModerna-2936729%20(1).pdf Latin Americans in Europe are now a rapidly growing group consisting of immigrants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. It may also include individuals from certain French-speaking territories depending on the definition of Latin America used.
A large majority of Latin Americans in Europe reside in Spain or have been naturalized as Spanish citizens. The main reasons of their migration to Spain are the common language, ethnic or family ties and cultural proximity to Spain. Portugal, Italy and France also have a sizable Latin American community; in the case of Italy, many of the immigrants are descendants of the Italian diaspora in Latin America.
Spain Spain is the second destination of choice after the United States for Latin American migrants and the vast majority of Latin Americans in Europe are residents or nationals of this country.
After several years of decline since a peak in 2010, the population of Spain born in Latin America has grown again since 2016, specially after 2021. In 2019, 3,114,076 Spanish people born in South, Central America or the Caribbean (excluding Puerto Rico) had been legally residing in Spain for the last 12 months, compared to 2,340,247 in 2016 and 2,459,098 in 2010. A majority hold Spanish citizenship.
Following the "Law of historic memory" Latin Americans with a Spanish parent (and their descendants) have automatic right to Spanish citizenship, even without residing in the country. This potentially applies to millions of Latin Americans. In addition, all Latin Americans from Spanish speaking countries (and Brazil) qualify for Spanish citizens after two years' residence, regardless of recent ancestry. This compares very favorably to the requirement of ten years' residence for immigrants from other countries.
As a result, a significant and ever growing portion of Latin American immigrants have acquired Spanish citizenship due to naturalization laws and the falling number of Latin Americans residing in Spain is primarily due to them acquiring Spanish nationality and no longer being classed as immigrants. In the period between 2011 and 2013, over one million immigrants acquired Spanish citizenship and over 75% of these were Latin American. As an example, by 2014 the majority of Spain's 408,944 Ecuadorian-born residents had already acquired Spanish citizenship and were no longer included national statistics tracking immigration. As a result, Latin Americans with Spanish citizenship living in other European countries such as the UK, France or Germany benefiting from European freedom of movement and establishment for all EU citizens will be categorized as Spaniards when using nationality as a criterion to determine the country of origin (rather than country of birth) of a particular EU country's immigrant population. Despite Spain's prolonged 2008-2015 economic crisis during which the country suffered years of massive unemployment and went from having the second highest immigration rate in the world to becoming a net-emigrant country, less than 30% of Spain's Latin American immigrants have left the country during this period. As a result of the combined effect of nationalization and net emigration during the economic crisis, the Latin American resident population yet to acquire Spanish nationality fell steadily to around 900,000 in 2015. Country of birth Population (2025)Corresponding article 978,041 Colombians in Spain 692,316 Venezuelans in Spain 468,751 Ecuadorians in Spain 450,883 Argentines in Spain 430,277 Peruvians in Spain 252,290 220,593 207,135 Dominicans in Spain 193,275 189,712 162,633 Paraguayans in Spain
Germany
Latin American citizens registered in the German central register of foreigners. (only Western Germany until 1989) Country of birth Population (1970) Population (1980) Population (1990) Population (2000) Population (2010) Population (2020) Population (2022) Surplus of women in % (2022)Corresponding article 3,487 5,485 10,486 24,142 32,537 49,500 55,710 72.2 Brazilians in Germany 942 1,878 3,789 8,880 10,294 20,705 26,710 47.3 948 2,025 3,223 6,069 9,583 17,755 21,590 22.5 Mexicans in Germany 1,056 2,007 4,009 8,231 8,644 10,960 12,435 78.2 934 1,207 1,485 3,052 3,501 8,025 11,095 15.2 1,824 5,458 6,440 6,495 6,079 9,335 10,505 -0.2 131 158 493 7,501 8,512 8,350 9,185 20.4 2,466 3,764 4,152 4,895 4,574 6,760 9,030 6.6 51 197 862 4,803 6,060 6,460 6,580 76.5 440 788 1,146 3,663 4,589 5,640 6,540 27.1 774 1,263 1,522 1,729 1,720 2,060 2,410 37.4 159 319 492 500 524 1,465 2,045 14.1 101 265 409 576 597 1,475 1,995 22.9 151 286 497 788 819 1,610 1,950 5.3 263 400 603 854 1,122 1,570 1,780 115.0 109 191 358 636 541 1,140 1,490 0.7 247 369 550 675 628 1,035 1,190 12.5 405 657 800 758 558 800 900 16.9 251 242 280 422 548 635 705 23.8 113 134 182 276 340 565 700 22.2 Total 14,852 27,093 41,778 84,945 101,770 155,845 184,545 41.6
Naturalizations from Latin American Countries to Germany Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Sum 2000–2022 Number of Naturalizations 1,682 2,086 2,317 3,047 2,905 2,890 3,306 3,070 2,861 3,125 3,290 3,253 3,072 3,552 3,634 3,740 3,722 3,745 3,815 4,285 3,975 4,555 4,245 76,172
France According to UN data, in 2019, the largest groups of Latin American migrants in France were from Brazil (181,500), Colombia (40,000), Mexico (40,000), Chile (30,325), Argentina (17,999), Peru (30,000), Venezuela (30,000), and Uruguay (10,859)
+RankCountry of originPopulation (2021)1.181,5002.40,0003.40,0004.30,3255.30,0006.30,0007.17,9998.10,8599.Other10,599Total380,824 (1.1%)
United Kingdom
According to the 2001 UK Census, 62,735 Latin Americans in the United Kingdom were born in their respective nations of origin. There were also a further 1,338 people who stated their birthplace as 'South or Central America' (note this would also include Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname, which are not part of Latin America.). In 2009, the Office for National Statistics estimated that the number of Brazilian-born people in the UK alone had risen to around 60,000 and the number of Colombian-born to around 22,000. Estimates for other Latin American countries were not made because the sample size did not allow for estimation of the size of smaller groups with sufficient degree of accuracy. Figure given is the central estimate. See the source for 95 per cent confidence intervals.
Country of birth Population (2011 census)Corresponding article 52,148 Brazilians in the United Kingdom 25,761 Colombians in the United Kingdom 10,550 9,771 Mexicans in the United Kingdom 9,150 8,767 Ecuadorians in the United Kingdom 7,246 Peruvians in the United Kingdom 7,130 Chileans in the United Kingdom 3,765 Bolivians in the United Kingdom 2,481 1,377 1,364
Norway From 1977 to 2012, the number of non-Norwegian citizens living in Norway of European descent has increased from around 46,000 to around 280,000. In the same period the number of citizens of nations on other continents increased from about 25,000 to about 127,000, of which 112,230 belong to Asia, Africa and South America. Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by country of origin Rank Country of originImmigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents Population (2001) Population (2014)"Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, 1 January 2015". Statistics Norway. Accessed 21 May 2015. 1. 6,491 7,904 2. 824 4,017 3. 604 3,841 4. 492 1,295 5. 286 959 6. 378 890 7. 276 844 8. 174 492 9. 134 308 11. 134 235 12. 167 234 13. 81 191 15. 78 159 16. 52 133 17. 64 117
The Netherlands Immigrants and Dutch-born to immigrant parents Iberian America Country of originImmigrants and Dutch-born to immigrant parents Population (1996) Population (2000) Population (2005) Population (2010) Population (2015) Population (2019) 2,952 3,239 4,167 4,522 4,245 6,508 408 547 744 954 1,170 1,415 6,589 8,913 12,289 17,022 22,041 30,104 3,566 3,937 4,564 4,936 5,488 6,207 4,937 7,025 9,885 12,292 15,346 18,351 274 444 623 741 970 1,242 361 781 1,361 1,748 2,052 2,333 5,321 7,341 9,843 11,600 13,651 15,206 559 1,121 1,883 2,466 3,200 3,943 304 350 453 544 626 752 229 339 471 604 815 1,034 203 269 387 505 670 816 1,251 1,802 2,894 4,054 5,548 7,618 273 314 403 535 693 843 244 278 353 393 470 561 215 238 270 281 328 371 1,849 2,418 3,662 4,925 6,100 7,324 91 101 132 153 199 241 805 886 997 1,069 1,135 1,234 2,257 2,948 4,090 4,936 6,002 7,420
Other / Dutch Americas Country of origin Population (1996) Population (2000) Population (2005) Population (2010) Population (2015) Population (2019) 274 592 1,204 2,250 4,130 5,610 Immigration after Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles 203 982 * Includes Saba and Sint-Eustatius which are not part of Latin America, Bonaire does 15 64 * (dissolved) 86,550 106,605 129,334 136,170 144,5658395 of the 144,565 Netherlands Antilleans born to immigrant parents from the Netherlands Antilles after the Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles 154,51018340 of the 154,510 Netherlands Antilleans born to immigrant parents from the Netherlands Antilles after the Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles includes Saba, Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius which are not considered a part of Latin America because of the lack of Papiamentu language
French Latin America Country of origin Population (1996) Population (2000) Population (2005) Population (2010) Population (2015) Population (2019) 401 477 707 716 767 836 194 219 306 301 327 397 223 331 540 619 703 865 85 94 105 106 121 123
Portugal
In 2008, Portugal's foreign population grew 1% from 435,736 in 2007 to 440,277. One in four immigrants is Brazilian,Um em cada quatro imigrantes é de nacionalidade brasileira – Diário de Notícias and Portugal was a country for an increasing amount of Venezuelans. There are also other communities from Argentina, the latter can have Portuguese ancestry due to the historical ties between both nations.Argentina e Portugal, uma longa amizade – Diário de Notícias Country of birth Population (2011) Population (2019)Corresponding article 139,703 158,799 Brazilians in Portugal 25,157 24,603 Portuguese Venezuelans
Switzerland In 2013, there were a total of 1,937,447 permanent foreign residents (23.8% of the total population of 8.14 million) in Switzerland. Of these, 51,761 were from Latin America and the Caribbean.Bevölkerung – Die wichtigsten Zahlen Swiss Federal Statistical Office, accessed 6 October 2014
Italy The list is not complete, as it does not include some Latin Americans that have gotten citizenship via jus sanguinis. +Rank Country of citizenshipPopulation (2020)Country of birth (2019)1.91,662117,1892.72,64485,2723.51,790115,9704.29,11146,1275.22,31137,3076.18,05340,7697.16,27014,6828.13,14115,7949.10,31653,00710.9,11771,88011.4,5679,44112.3,01712,77513.2,4612,88014.1,7502,86215.1,2517,44616.8372,29917.7001,31118.4761,61919.3481,09420.306792
Sweden As of 2021, there were 114,480 people in Sweden that were either born in Latin America or were born in Sweden and had two parents that were born in Latin America. 34% of these were from Chile and 13% from Colombia. Meanwhile 171,845 had some Latin American origin, meaning they were either born in Latin America or were born in Sweden and had at least one Latin American-born parent. +RankCountry of originPopulation (2021)1. Chile39,4042.15,0653.12,4564.10,2505.6,1586.4,9227.4,5038.3,9759.3,82410.3,324Other10,599Total114,480 (1.1%)
Finland