The number beats the previous record, set in 2023, as a recent report also points at a peak in the number of deaths recorded in the dangerous Atlantic migration route.

A record 46,843 migrants reached Spain's Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, official data showed on Thursday.

The latest arrivals in 2025 add to growing concerns about the uptick in irregular migration to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.

MADRID (AP) — More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.

After a record-breaking year of migrant arrivals, the president of Spain’s Canary Islands called the situation on the islands “unsustainable” on Monday.

Canary Islands president has stated Spain are not doing enough to help migrants, popular party and Vox party preventing relocation laws

Spanish territory on the first day of 2025 - In the last week of 2024, 1,933 crossed from the North West coast of Africa to the Canary Islands

Spain received 63,970 people who arrived through irregular routes last year, including 46,843 in the Canary Islands.