Introduction

One of the most frequently cited factors for explaining migration flows is the economic difference found between countries of origin and destination. This is precisely what in 1992 Spain's then Prime Minister Felipe González noted when showing fellow European heads of state a photograph of Morocco taken from Spanish shores: ‘This is our Rio Grande […]. It is not far. And living standards are four, five, ten times lower on the other side’ (The New York Times 26 October 1992). Ever since, Spain's economic growth and the progressive impoverishment of Morocco and Africa, in general, have only aggravated the difference. According to the 2007/2008 UN Human Development Report, the border between Spain and Africa had come to represent the highest development gap in the world: while Spain ranks thirteenth in the UN Human Development Index (with an HDI of 0.949), Morocco comes in at number 126 (0.646), Senegal at 156 (0.499) and Mali at 173 (0.38). In terms of strict economic differential – measured in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and purchasing power parity – the wealth gap between Spain (with a GDP per capita of $US 27,169) and Morocco ($US 4,555), Senegal (US$ 1,792) or Mali ($US 1,033) is much greater than that between the United States ($US 41,890) and Mexico ($US 10,751) (UN Human Development Report 2007/2008: 229-232).

Although the economic gap between Spain and Latin America or Spain and Eastern European countries is smaller, the difference is no less relevant when it comes to explaining migratory flows to Spain. In the case of Latin America, the inflow of immigrants seeking work began to take on significant proportions in the 1990s and continued to grow exponentially after 2000 as the result of economic crises in countries like Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. Besides the general economic downturn, the crisis generated greater economic and social inequality. Their rapid impoverishment compelled members of the middle class to begin emigrating to Spain. As for Eastern Europe, it is essential to bear in mind how the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and ensuing economic restructuring impacted emigration. For 2007-2008, the per capita GDP in Spain ($US 27,169) was three times higher than in Romania ($US 9,060) and four times more than in the Ukraine ($US 6,848) (UN Human Development Report 2007/2008: 229-232).