Today, Morocco remains a major sender of migrants with annual flows estimated at 140,400 individuals(OECD.stat). It has been continuously so since the 1960s. At that time, emigration from Morocco was mainly directed towards France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In the 1980s, however, after limitations had been put in place by the traditional receiving countries in Europe, Moroccan low–skilled often irregular migration instead increased in Spain and Italy.
