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The Canary Islands have established themselves as one of the main destinations for Cuban emigration, with 63,837 persons born in Cuba residing in the archipelago at the beginning of 2025, according to the report on immigrant population in the Canary Islands published by ECCA Social with data from the Canary Islands Statistics Institute.
Cuba ranks second among the countries of origin for the migrant population in the archipelago, only surpassed by Venezuela, with 88,602 residents, and ahead of Colombia, with 54,362.
A total of 529,739 people born abroad live on the islands, representing 23.5% of the total population of the archipelago, a percentage that increased by 4.9% compared to 2024.
The profile of the Cuban community in the Canary Islands is dual: on one hand, there are individuals aged between 50 and 64 associated with the process of recovering Spanish citizenship; on the other hand, there are young people aged 25 to 39 who have arrived more recently as part of the exodus that intensified from 2021 onwards.
"The Cuban population is primarily adult: it consists of individuals aged between 50 and 64, linked to processes of recovering citizenship, and young people aged 25 to 39 who are more recent arrivals," the report states.
This duality has historical roots: since the 19th century, the Canary Islands were one of the main centers of emigration to Cuba, and in the 1862 census, Canarians accounted for 41.5% of the total Hispanic emigrants on the island, creating family networks that today facilitate the reverse journey.
The Democratic Memory Law has been a key avenue for Cubans of Canary Island descent to recover Spanish nationality, which partly explains the difference between the 63,837 born in Cuba and the 46,338 who still hold Cuban nationality in the islands.
At the provincial level, Santa Cruz de Tenerife had approximately 20,580 resident Cubans, while Las Palmas de Gran Canaria had around 18,015, according to data from 2023.
While Morocco tops the list of migrant origins across Spain, it is Latin America that leads in the Canary Islands, reflecting the historical ties of the archipelago with the continent.
The contemporary Cuban exodus, driven by the economic crisis, blackouts, repression, and shortages resulting from over six decades of dictatorship, has made Spain the second main destination for Cuban emigration, only behind the United States.
In parallel, the Canary Islands are also managing the irregular arrival of young Africans in vessels from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Gambia, although irregular arrivals decreased by 42.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, with 36,775 individuals across Spain, thanks to agreements with the countries of origin.
The Canary route remains one of the most dangerous in the world: the NGO Caminando Fronteras recorded 1,906 victims in 2025.
Around 50,000 people in the Canary Islands will benefit from the extraordinary regularization approved by Pedro Sánchez's government, which will provide documentation to more than half a million migrants across the country, with the application deadline set for June 30, 2026.
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