The Canary Islands is no longer the second autonomous community with the highest percentage of population at risk of poverty and becomes the fifth, data that the regional government attributes to the economic policies it has applied in the last year and a half.
In a statement sent this Tuesday, the Ministry of Economy of the regional government has reported that the Canary Islands is below regions such as Ceuta, Melilla, Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura and Murcia.
According to the survey of living conditions, published last February, the AROPE rate (percentage of population at risk of poverty or social exclusion) stood at 31.2% of the population in the Canary Islands, compared to 33.8% the previous year, reducing by 2.6 percentage points, which has achieved the lowest recorded in the Canary Islands for 10 years, which is when it began to be calculated, the note highlights.
In relation to the rest of the Spanish territory, the average net household income has increased in the last year by 11.3%, being one of the Autonomous Communities where the greatest increase has occurred, after the Balearic Islands (14.4%) and Galicia (11.5%), the statement said.
It also specifies that the average household income in the Canary Islands has increased in the last year from 31,296 euros to 34,819 euros, and that the difference in 2023 with the Spanish average was 3,525 euros and in 2024 it was 2,177 euros.
The Ministry has stressed that there are still challenges to face, such as the high proportion of the population that still faces economic difficulties and the inability to cope with unforeseen expenses, so the regional government will continue to implement "effective public policies" that promote "equity and improve the living conditions of all residents in the Canary Islands".
According to the note, the Canary Islands economy grew by 4% in 2024, more than the Spanish economy (3.2%), more than the European Community economy (0.9%) and more than the eurozone economy (0.7%).
The labor market has also had an "extraordinary behavior" in the last year and has exceeded one million employed for the first time.
At the end of the year, the unemployment rate fell to 11.9% of the active population, the lowest since 2008, which almost converges with the Spanish average (10.6%), in addition to the fact that the unemployment rate of the youngest decreased to 24.7%, below the Spanish average (24.9%), a situation that the Executive has described as "almost unprecedented".
The Government of the Canary Islands has assured that it will continue to apply measures focused on generating employment and economic activity to achieve a more competitive and productive business fabric, as well as policies focused on promoting the digital transformation of companies and promoting self-employment.
The number of people affiliated to the self-employed regime stood at 144,543 in December 2024, the highest number in the entire historical series, with an annual increase of 2.71%.
