Total of 46,843 people broke the 2023 record, with nationals from Mali, Senegal and Morocco the most common

A record 46,843 people reached the Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, according to official data.

Last year Spain received 63,970 irregular migrants, the vast majority in the Canaries, up from 56,852 in 2023, the interior ministry said on Thursday.