In 2023, the Canary Islands registered one of the most intense growths in competitiveness among the Spanish regions, although they are still far from Madrid, the Basque Country, Navarra and Catalonia, which lead the table.
The increase in competitiveness in the Canary Islands has meant that the archipelago has risen from fifteenth to fourteenth place among the 17 autonomous communities, surpassing the Balearic Islands. Andalusia and Extremadura close the list.
The data comes from the latest Regional Competitiveness Report in Spain, carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Murcia and published by the General Council of Economists, which establishes an index of "capacity of attraction" - of capital, knowledge or labor - of the different territories in relation to seven axes composed of 54 variables or indicators.
Madrid, the Basque Country and Navarra continue to form what those responsible for the report call the "competitive triangle", ahead of Catalonia, which remains the only member of the medium-high competitiveness level.
Aragón, which rises to fifth position, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Galicia and Cantabria now form the group of communities with a medium-low relative competitive level and the group of low competitiveness is made up of Asturias, the Valencian Community, Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Canary Islands - which surpasses the other archipelago -, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and, lastly, Extremadura.
Overall, the average competitiveness of the 17 communities grew by 5.6% in 2023, which is seven tenths more than in 2022 and represents the second highest increase since this series of data began in 2008.
Some of the factors behind these good results, as the General Council of Economists describes them, are the definitive normalization of the situation after the pandemic, the economic dynamism of GDP in the last three years, the recovery of the tourism sector, the increase in public spending and the good performance of the labor market.
The seven axes on which the report is structured - economic environment, labor market, human capital, institutional environment, basic infrastructures, business efficiency and innovation - have improved in general terms, especially business efficiency and the economic and institutional environment.
The president of the General Council of Economists of Spain, Valentín Pich, has also mentioned European aid and the increase in population as positive factors and has said that Spain is "reaping the rewards of reforms that were made after the 2008 crisis", which in his opinion should now be followed by others to increase competitiveness.
For his part, the coordinator of the study, Patricio Rosas, has indicated that "worrying" differences persist between communities despite the good records of some of the less advanced regions.
