Latin American migration to Europe is the diaspora of Latin Americans to the continent of Europe, dating back to the first decades of the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas.^[1] Latin Americans in Europe are now a rapidly growing group consisting of immigrants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. It may also include individuals from certain French-speaking territories depending on the definition of Latin America used.

A large majority of Latin Americans in Europe reside in Spain or have been naturalized as Spanish citizens. The main reasons of their migration to Spain are the common language, family ties and cultural proximity to Spain. Portugal, Italy and France also have a sizable Latin American community; in the case of Italy, many of the immigrants are descendants of the Italian diaspora in Latin America.

Spain is the second destination of choice after the United States for Latin American migrants and the vast majority of Latin Americans in Europe are residents or nationals of this country.^[2][3]

After several years of decline since a peak in 2010, the population of Spain born in Latin America has grown again since 2016. In 2019, 3,114,076 Spanish people born in South, Central America or the Caribbean (excluding Puerto Rico) had been legally residing in Spain for the last 12 months, compared to 2,340,247 in 2016 and 2,459,098 in 2010. A majority hold Spanish citizenship.^[4][5]

Following the "Law of historic memory" Latin Americans with a Spanish parent (and their descendants) have automatic right to Spanish citizenship, even without residing in the country. This potentially applies to millions of Latin Americans. In addition, all Latin Americans from Spanish speaking countries (and Brazil) qualify for Spanish citizens after two years' residence, regardless of recent ancestry. This compares very favorably to the requirement of ten years' residence for immigrants from other countries.

As a result a significant and ever growing portion of Latin American immigrants have acquired Spanish citizenship due to naturalization laws and the falling number of Latin Americans residing in Spain is primarily due to them acquiring Spanish nationality and no longer being classed as immigrants. In the period between 2011 and 2013, over one million immigrants acquired Spanish citizenship and over 75% of these were Latin American.^[6] As an example, by 2014 the majority of Spain's 408,944 Ecuadorian-born residents had already acquired Spanish citizenship and were no longer included national statistics tracking immigration.^[7] As a result, Latin Americans with Spanish citizenship living in other European countries such as the UK, France or Germany benefiting from European freedom of movement and establishment for all EU citizens will be categorized as Spaniards when using nationality as a criterion to determine the country of origin (rather than country of birth) of a particular EU country's immigrant population.^[8][9] Despite Spain's prolonged 2008-2015 economic crisis during which the country suffered years of massive unemployment and went from having the second highest immigration rate in the world to becoming a net-emigrant country, less than 30% of Spain's Latin American immigrants have left the country during this period.^[10] As a result of the combined effect of nationalization and net emigration during the economic crisis, the Latin American resident population yet to acquire Spanish nationality fell steadily to around 900,000 in 2015.^[11]

More information Country of birth, Population (2020) ...

Country of birth	Population (2020)[12]	Corresponding article
Ecuador	416,347	Ecuadorians in Spain
Colombia	513,583	Colombians in Spain
Argentina	292,775	Argentines in Spain
Venezuela	395,747	Venezuelans in Spain
Peru	244,681	Peruvians in Spain
Dominican Republic	186,286	Dominicans in Spain
Bolivia	178,680
Cuba	151,327
Brazil	156,302
Paraguay	107,200	Paraguayans in Spain
Honduras	133,044

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Latin American citizens registered in the German central register of foreigners. (only Western Germany until 1989)^[13]

More information Country of birth, Population (1970) ...

Country of birth	Population (1970)	Population (1980)	Population (1990)	Population (2000)	Population (2010)	Population (2020)	Population (2022)	Surplus of women in % (2022)	Corresponding article
Brazil	3,487	5,485	10,486	24,142	32,537	49,500	55,710	72.2	Brazilians in Germany
Colombia	942	1,878	3,789	8,880	10,294	20,705	26,710	47.3
Mexico	948	2,025	3,223	6,069	9,583	17,755	21,590	22.5	Mexicans in Germany
Peru	1,056	2,007	4,009	8,231	8,644	10,960	12,435	78.2
Venezuela	934	1,207	1,485	3,052	3,501	8,025	11,095	15.2
Chile	1,824	5,458	6,440	6,495	6,079	9,335	10,505	-0.2
Cuba	131	158	493	7,501	8,512	8,350	9,185	20.4
Argentina	2,466	3,764	4,152	4,895	4,574	6,760	9,030	6.6
Dominican Republic	51	197	862	4,803	6,060	6,460	6,580	76.5
Ecuador	440	788	1,146	3,663	4,589	5,640	6,540	27.1
Bolivia	774	1,263	1,522	1,729	1,720	2,060	2,410	37.4
El Salvador	159	319	492	500	524	1,465	2,045	14.1
Honduras	101	265	409	576	597	1,475	1,995	22.9
Costa Rica	151	286	497	788	819	1,610	1,950	5.3
Paraguay	263	400	603	854	1,122	1,570	1,780	115.0
Nicaragua	109	191	358	636	541	1,140	1,490	0.7
Guatemala	247	369	550	675	628	1,035	1,190	12.5
Uruguay	405	657	800	758	558	800	900	16.9
Haiti	251	242	280	422	548	635	705	23.8
Panama	113	134	182	276	340	565	700	22.2
Total	14,852	27,093	41,778	84,945	101,770	155,845	184,545	41.6

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Naturalizations from Latin American Countries to Germany

According to UN data, in 2019, the largest groups of Latin American migrants in France were from Brazil (181,500),^[15] Colombia (40,000),^[16][17] Chile (30,325),^[18] Argentina (17,999),^[19] Peru (30,000),^[20] Venezuela (30,000).^[21] And México (40,000)^[22] Uruguay (10,859) ^[23][24]

More information Rank, Country of origin ...

Rank	Country of origin	Population (2021)
1.	Brazil	181,500
2.	Mexico	40,000
3.	Colombia	40,000
4.	Chile	30,325
5.	Peru	30,000
6.	Venezuela	30,000
7.	Argentina	17,999
8.	Uruguay	10,859
9.	Other	10,599
	Total	380,824 (1.1%)[25]

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According to the 2001 UK Census, 62,735 Latin Americans in the United Kingdom were born in their respective nations of origin.^[26] There were also a further 1,338 people who stated their birthplace as 'South or Central America' (note this would also include Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname, which are not part of Latin America.).^[26] In 2009, the Office for National Statistics estimated that the number of Brazilian-born people in the UK alone had risen to around 60,000 and the number of Colombian-born to around 22,000. Estimates for other Latin American countries were not made because the sample size did not allow for estimation of the size of smaller groups with sufficient degree of accuracy.^[27]

More information Country of birth, Corresponding article ...

Country of birth	Population (2011 census)[28][29][30]	Corresponding article
Brazil	52,148	Brazilians in the United Kingdom
Colombia[31]	25,761	Colombians in the United Kingdom
Argentina	10,550
Mexico	9,771	Mexicans in the United Kingdom
Venezuela	9,150
Ecuador	8,767	Ecuadorians in the United Kingdom
Peru	7,246	Peruvians in the United Kingdom
Chile	7,130	Chileans in the United Kingdom
Bolivia	3,765	Bolivians in the United Kingdom
Cuba	2,481
Dominican Republic	1,377
Uruguay	1,364

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From 1977 to 2012, the number of non-Norwegian citizens living in Norway of European descent has increased from around 46,000 to around 280,000. In the same period the number of citizens of nations on other continents increased from about 25,000 to about 127,000, of which 112,230 belong to Asia, Africa and South America.^[32] Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by country of origin

More information Rank, Country of origin ...

Rank	Country of origin[33]	Population (2001)[34]	Population (2014)[35]
1.	Chile	6,491	7,904
2.	Brazil	824	4,017
3.	Colombia	604	3,841
4.	Peru	492	1,295
5.	Cuba	286	959
6.	Argentina	378	890
7.	Dominican Republic	276	844
8.	Ecuador	174	492
9.	Bolivia	134	308
11.	El Salvador	134	235
12.	Uruguay	167	234
13.	Guatemala	81	191
15.	Nicaragua	78	159
16.	Costa Rica	52	133
17.	Honduras	64	117

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Immigrants and Dutch-born to immigrant parents Iberian America

More information Country of origin, Population (1996) ...

Country of origin[36]	Population (1996)[37]	Population (2000)	Population (2005)	Population (2010)	Population (2015)	Population (2019)
Argentina	2,952	3,239	4,167	4,522	4,245	6,508
Bolivia	408	547	744	954	1,170	1,415
Brazil	6,589	8,913	12,289	17,022	22,041	30,104
Chile	3,566	3,937	4,564	4,936	5,488	6,207
Colombia	4,937	7,025	9,885	12,292	15,346	18,351
Costa Rica	274	444	623	741	970	1,242
Cuba	361	781	1,361	1,748	2,052	2,333
Dominican Republic	5,321	7,341	9,843	11,600	13,651	15,206
Ecuador	559	1,121	1,883	2,466	3,200	3,943
El Salvador	304	350	453	544	626	752
Guatemala	229	339	471	604	815	1,034
Honduras	203	269	387	505	670	816
Mexico	1,251	1,802	2,894	4,054	5,548	7,618
Nicaragua	273	314	403	535	693	843
Panama	244	278	353	393	470	561
Paraguay	215	238	270	281	328	371
Peru	1,849	2,418	3,662	4,925	6,100	7,324
Puerto Rico	91	101	132	153	199	241
Uruguay	805	886	997	1,069	1,135	1,234
Venezuela	2,257	2,948	4,090	4,936	6,002	7,420

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Other / Dutch Americas

More information Country of origin, Population (1996) ...

Country of origin[36]	Population (1996)[38]	Population (2000)	Population (2005)	Population (2010)	Population (2015)	Population (2019)
Aruba	274	592	1,204	2,250	4,130	5,610
Curaçao [39]					203	982
Caribbean Netherlands* [39][40]					15	64
Netherlands Antilles* (dissolved)	86,550	106,605	129,334	136,170	144,565[41]	154,510[42]

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• includes Saba, Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius which are not considered a part of Latin America because of the lack of Papiamentu language

French Latin America

More information Country of origin, Population (1996) ...

Country of origin[36]	Population (1996)[43]	Population (2000)	Population (2005)	Population (2010)	Population (2015)	Population (2019)
French Guiana	401	477	707	716	767	836
Guadeloupe	194	219	306	301	327	397
Haiti	223	331	540	619	703	865
Martinique	85	94	105	106	121	123

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In 2008, Portugal's foreign population grew 1% from 435,736 in 2007 to 440,277. One in four immigrants is Brazilian,^[44] and Portugal was a country for an increasing amount of Venezuelans. There are also other communities from Argentina, the latter can have Portuguese ancestry due to the historical ties between both nations.^[45]

More information Country of birth, Population (2011) ...

Country of birth	Population (2011)[46]	Population (2019)[47][48]	Corresponding article
Brazil	139,703	158,799	Brazilians in Portugal
Venezuela	25,157	24,603	Portuguese Venezuelans

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In 2013, there were a total of 1,937,447 permanent foreign residents (23.8% of the total population of 8.14 million) in Switzerland. Of these, 51,761 were from Latin America and the Caribbean.^[49]

The list is not complete, as it does not include some Latin Americans that have gotten citizenship via jus sanguinis.

More information Rank, Country of citizenship ...

Rank	Country of citizenship	Population (2020)[50]	Country of birth (2019)
1.	Peru	91,662	117,189
2.	Ecuador	72,644	85,272
3.	Brazil	51,790	115,970
4.	Dominican Republic	29,111	46,127
5.	Cuba	22,311	37,307
6.	Colombia	18,053	40,769
7.	El Salvador	16,270	14,682
8.	Bolivia	13,141	15,794
9.	Venezuela	10,316	53,007
10.	Argentina	9,117	71,880
11.	Mexico	4,567	9,441
12.	Chile	3,017	12,775
13.	Honduras	2,461	2,880
14.	Paraguay	1,750	2,862
15.	Uruguay	1,251	7,446
16.	Guatemala	837	2,299
17.	Nicaragua	700	1,311
18.	Costa Rica	476	1,619
19.	Panama	348	1,094
20.	Haiti	306	792

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As of 2021, there were 114,480 people in Sweden that were either born in Latin America or were born in Sweden and had two parents that were born in Latin America. 34% of these were from Chile and 13% from Colombia. Meanwhile 171,845 had some Latin American origin, meaning they were either born in Latin America or were born in Sweden and had at least one Latin American-born parent.^[51]

More information Rank, Country of origin ...

Rank	Country of origin	Population (2021)
1.	Chile	39,404
2.	Colombia	15,065
3.	Brazil	12,456
4.	Peru	10,250
5.	Bolivia	6,158
6.	Argentina	4,922
7.	El Salvador	4,503
8.	Mexico	3,975
9.	Cuba	3,824
10.	Ecuador	3,324
	Other	10,599
	Total	114,480 (1.1%)[52]

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As of 2021, 8,763 people in Finland had a Latin American background, up from 4,284 in 2011 and 614 in 1990. In 1990 the most common country of origin was Chile, accounting for 30% of Latin Americans. 2,814 of them live in Helsinki, where they make up 0.43% of the population. Brazil is the common country of origin, accounting for 26% of Latin Americans, followed by Mexicans (14%) and Colombians (9%). 594 children were adopted from Colombia between 1987 and 2021, making it the fourth most common country of origin for international adoptees in Finland, and accounted for 10.4% of all international adoptions. These are not counted as having Colombian background, however, and are instead counted with the background country of the adoptive parents, which is usually Finland.^[53][54]

More information Rank, Country of origin ...

Rank	Country of origin	Population (2021)
1.	Brazil	2,315
2.	Mexico	1,184
3.	Colombia	826
4.	Peru	678
5.	Chile	668
	Other	3,092
	Total	8,763 (0.2%)[55]

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Total amount of Latin Americans residing in the European Union (as of 2011); ~3.843.026