Immigration

In 2024, an average of nearly two migrant boats reached the Canary Islands each day. 692 boats in all carried more than 46,000 people that year, mostly from Mauritania, Senegal and Morocco. The majority arrive to the tiny, westernmost island of El Hierro, where emergency services struggle to help new arrivals. But most islanders are receiving the migrants warmly. 

Many migrants to Europe are opting to take dangerous boat journeys across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands. One of the launching points is in the city of Agadir in southwest Morocco.

Spain received more than 46,000 migrants in 2024. This, despite the dangers and tougher border controls at the fence-line between Morocco and the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta. To skirt security, migrants are swimming farther and farther out to sea, and sometimes drowning. 

Many Ukrainians have fled to Moldova to escape the war in their country. The Moldovan government has made the process easier to accommodate them. A shared history as former Soviet states, along with shared bilingualism, are helping these refugees adjust.

The number of foreign-born older people in the US is increasing fast: It’s expected to reach 23% of the total older population by 2060. But the US health care system is not always well prepared to cater to aging immigrants. In an increasingly immigrant community in the Hamptons, in New York, a local hospital is offering fall-prevention classes in Spanish.