Migratory flows and pandemic: An analysis of impacts on immigrants of foreign origin in Spain

Abstract

Restrictions on mobility as a measure to contain theCOVID-19 pandemic meant, in the case of Spain, an abruptending to what could be called the second internationalmigratory boom. At the same time, internal migrations un-derwent considerable change, with cities becoming less at-tractive as a destination for migrants, and increased flowsinto rural areas. In this context, our aim is twofold. First, itis to describe and analyse the decline in international mi-gration according to origin and, second, to analyse internalmigration among the population of immigrant origin. Theresults point to a temporary steep downturn in interna-tional flows, which does not affect all origins equally. In thecase of internal migrations, there is a slight reduction in theintensity of movements with patterns similar to those ofthe autochthonous population. However, this drop in num-bers is very significant among Asians and barely noticeableamong immigrants from Latin America.