Among the nations of the European Union, Spain has a large immigrant population that came to in search of a better future.

However, research indicates that around 80% of immigrants in the nation have little to no schooling, which has recently sparked worries about the educational backgrounds of immigrants.

As El Mundo explains, Spain is the second EU country with the highest number of immigrant population.

Despite this, the country has not been able to put foreign talent to use since only around 23.1 per cent of immigrants in the country are qualified and hold a university degree.

Africans Make Up the Largest Group of Unqualified Immigrants in Spain

Data from Funcas, a non-profit organisation in Spain, show that immigrants with the lowest educational qualifications in Spain mainly come from Africa.

Only around six per cent of immigrants in Spain who are passport holders of one of the countries on the African continent hold a university degree.

In addition, the same source has also revealed that immigrants from Latin American countries account for 31 per cent of people who have at most completed secondary education.

Funcas notes that only about 24 per cent of immigrants who were born in one of the Latin American countries and are currently in Spain have obtained a university degree.

Such figures have raised concerns among the authorities as they believe that the low level of education will negatively affect the country’s economy, El Mundo notes.

The Bank of Spain said in a recent publication that Spain is currently registering imbalances for which the country needs to take measures as soon as possible, or they will become “unsolved”.

According to the latter, in 2023 alone, 80 per cent of immigrants in the country did not hold a university degree, and around 70 per cent worked in “unskilled positions.”

While immigrants are important to mitigate the ageing of the Spanish population and fill in different job positions, Bank of Spain Director General Economics, Statistics and Research, Ángel Gavilán, stressed that the flows are not solving the problem due to lack of qualifications among immigrants.

Spanish Qualified Workers Are Moving Abroad

In addition to registering a high number of unqualified immigrants, Spain is also dealing with another problem related to its own citizens.

Data has shown that qualified Spaniards are leaving Spain for other countries. Of all groups of Spanish citizens, university students represent the highest percentage of those who are moving to other countries, with 60 per cent of them emigrating in 2022.

Commenting on the matter, Gavilán said that it is very concerning to see that the country is losing talent and instead registering an increased number of unqualified immigrants.

The same stressed that the emigration of Spanish talent to other countries would lead to deep shortages in different sectors around the country.