A total of 6,194 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands in October on 65 small boats, dinghies and inflatable craft, more than during the entire first half of the year, when 3,708 people were rescued, according to figures published on Tuesday by the Ministry of the Interior.
This has been the busiest October in terms of migrant arrivals on the Canary Islands‘ coasts since 2023, when 15,729 people were rescued from 182 boats, the worst month in the history of the Canary Route.
As a result, the year-to-date figures for the Canary Islands are now close to those for 2025, standing at just 5.5 per cent lower, whereas for much of the year the cumulative decline had exceeded 60 per cent.
Migration: Spain exceeds the previous year's figure for the first time
Across Spain as a whole, the number of migrants who have arrived in the country irregularly this year has, for the first time, exceeded the figures for 2025, even without taking into account the crisis in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, with a rise in the number of people arriving in the Canary Islands.
This is evident from the latest report on irregular immigration published by the Ministry of the Interior, which does not include figures relating to the mass influx into Ceuta and which records a total of 32,942 arrivals from 1 January to 31 October, 8.9 per cent more than at this stage in 2025, the vast majority of whom arrived by sea.
This is the first time that irregular arrivals in 2026 have exceeded those of 2025, as the general trend this year had been a decline in this type of entry, with falls of up to 61.2 per cent across Spain and of more than 85 per cent in the Canary Islands during certain periods.
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