Moroccans constitute the largest foreign community in Spain

The Spanish Ministry of Social Security, Inclusion and Migration reported that 264,304 Moroccan nationals in a legal administrative situation were registered with social security in Spain, as of February. This number makes of Moroccans the largest foreign community established in the Iberian kingdom. They are followed by the Chinese community.

These statistics indicate overall that foreigners affiliated to social security were 2,053,997 in February 2021, an increase of 0.4% compared to January of the same year. «Of the total number of foreign workers who contribute to social security in Spain, some 1,309,920 come from countries outside the European Union», according to the same source. Thus, nearly 744,077 foreigners in the country carry the nationality of another European state.

Despite the health crisis, data show that remittances from Moroccans living abroad (MRE) were close to 660 million in January 2021. Remittances that month experienced a 8.8% increase compared to the same period last year. The same source also points out that remittances to Morocco amounted to 61.91 billion dirhams ($ 7.05 billion) at the end of November 2020.

In Morocco, 10% of these funds are allocated to investment. According to Bank Al-Maghrib's forecasts, these operations will increase by 6.3% in 2021 and 2% in 2022.