Pedro Sánchez cited different figures for migrant arrivals and the foreign population living in Spain during his interview on The Wild Project. When Jordi Wild asked his fact-checkers to check the data, they included Morocco among the leading countries in both comparisons. The distinction is between migration movements during a reference period and the population resident in Spain on a particular date.
Sánchez said most migrants covered by a regularisation completed before summer were from Latin America, with Colombians the largest nationality. The reported breakdown of applicants put Colombia at 25.9%, followed by Morocco at 13.3%, Venezuela at 11.8%, Peru at 8.8% and Honduras at 4.9%. He also described arrivals overall as 40% European and 40% Latin American, with the remainder from Africa or Asia.
Wild asked journalists Javier Collado and Iván Muñoz to verify migrants’ origins over the previous five years. They named Colombia, Morocco, Venezuela and Peru among the leading countries in recent migration flows. Spain recorded 1,288,562 arrivals from abroad in 2024, including 1,144,227 people with foreign nationality; annual arrivals were 1,250,991 in 2023, 1,258,894 in 2022 and 887,960 in 2021. For foreign residents already in Spain, the fact-checkers gave a different order: Morocco, Romania, Colombia, Venezuela and Italy.
The resident figures also depend on whether the measure is country of birth or nationality. Spain had 9,464,210 foreign-born residents on 1 January 2025, or 19.8% of the population, according to the OECD’s 2026 country profile. Morocco was the leading birthplace, with 1,165,955 residents, followed by Colombia with 978,041, Venezuela with 692,316 and Romania with 521,181. Naturalised Spanish citizens remain part of the foreign-born population, although they are no longer counted as foreign nationals.
The distinction matters: figures on recent flows and the population currently resident in Spain describe different groups. The fact-checkers’ breakdown put Morocco among the leading origins in each, while Sánchez’s account emphasised Latin America. The regularisation applicant figures describe that application pool, not all arrivals or the entire foreign-born population.
Wild challenged Sánchez over the omission. The president replied that he had not denied Morocco’s presence and maintained that the broad majority of migrants were Latin American.
The exchange then moved from figures to integration. Wild argued that concern reflected a cultural and religious clash and pointed to the growth of Aliança Catalana in Catalonia. He also said some people felt they no longer recognised neighbourhoods where they had lived for years, a change he linked to growing distrust.
Sánchez acknowledged integration as a challenge but focused on migration’s economic contribution. He said migration accounted for 25% of Spain’s economic growth over the period under discussion, presenting the figure as part of his argument about migration’s role in an ageing society and the labour force.
The interview was released on 13 November 2026, closing Jordi Wild’s series of conversations with leading candidates ahead of the general election scheduled for November 29. Vox did not take part after withdrawing at the last minute. The live verification format had also featured in an earlier Barcelona arrests report on the programme.
