Morocco and Spain: Contrasting Demographics at the Door Between Africa and Europe
The case of Morocco and Spain as bordering nations is unique. Despite the obstacle the Strait of Gibraltar presents as a dividing mass of water between the two countries -- and subsequently the two continents of Europe and Africa -- illegal immigration has risen exponentially in the last twenty years. Today, Morocco is often described as being to Europe what Mexico is to the United States. As less-developed countries, Morocco and Mexico both lack viable opportunities for their citizens but geographically have relatively easy access to the wealthier, cheap labor-hungry nations of the European Union and the United States, respectively. Perhaps more so than Mexico, Morocco also serves as a "transit migration country": in recent decades it has become one of the primary staging areas for North African and increasingly sub-Saharan African immigrants en route to Europe.4 It is no surprise that Spain currently has the highest immigration rate in the European Union.
Migrants from Africa arrive to La Tejita Beach, a popular tourist destination in Spain.
In the midst of the heated debate surrounding soaring illegal immigration rates in Spain and throughout Western Europe, the region is currently facing drastic shifts in demographics due to low fertility rates and longer life expectancy. Europe's population is expected to age dramatically in the coming decades: by the year 2030 there will be one elderly person (over the age of 65) for every two people of productive, working age.5 Today the median age in the continent is 37.7 years; by 2050 it will rise to 52.3.6 At the end of the twentieth century, Spain's fertility rate ranked among the lowest in the EU at 1.2 children per woman.7 What these demographic shifts imply are a shrinking labor force, eventual economic stagnation, and a steadily growing elderly population in need of government aid, which will become increasingly unavailable if gaps in the labor force are not filled. In contrast, Morocco and the rest of the African nations have populations that are much younger. This demographic distinction, paired with the willingness (or necessity) of many Africans to migrate north in search of opportunity, could serve to fill the vacancies expected to surface in the European labor forces.
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Footnotes:
4. Hein De Haas, "Morocco: From Emigration Country to Africa's Migration Passage to Europe," Migration Information Source, Oct. 2005, (accessed Sept. 7, 2006).
5. "Demographic Time-Bomb Ticking Under Europe," Management Issues News: At the Heart of the Changing Work-place (Mar. 18, 2005), http://www.management-issues.com/2006/8/24/research/85332-7055.asp (accessed Sept. 6, 2006, link no longer available).
6. Richard Bernstein, "The Aging Europe May Find Itself on the Sidelines," New York Times, June 29, 2003.
7. Clean Clothes Campaign, "Working Conditions in Morocco," May 2003 Report, (accessed Sept. 7, 2006).