The president of the Canary Islands Youth Council, Brenda Rivero; the head of Socioeconomics of the Spanish Youth Council, Javier Muñoz; and the research technician of the Spanish Youth Council, Rubén Díaz, presented this Wednesday the Canary Islands data from the Emancipation Observatory, corresponding to the second semester of 2023, which shows that young people in the Canary Islands face the most expensive rent in history, 1,024 euros per month, with the second lowest salaries in Spain, 843.77 euros per month.
The presentation of this report coordinated by the Spanish Youth Council (CJE) and published by the Canary Islands Youth Council highlights the difficulty for young Canarians under 35 to access housing alone earning the average salary, as they would be short 180.23 euros per month, not counting supplies, food and other basic expenses.
At the end of 2023, the rent of a home had an average price of 1,024 euros per month in the Canary Islands, 11.3% more than the previous year, making it the most expensive in history, and only surpassed by four autonomous communities: Madrid, Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Basque Country. In the province of Las Palmas, prices were somewhat more expensive (1,056 euros per month) than in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (976 euros per month).
Paradoxically, the report also reveals that, in the second quarter of 2023, the emancipation rate in the Canary Islands was established at 20%, the second highest in Spain, only behind Catalonia. This figure represents 17,136 more emancipated young people in the Islands than a year before and an increase of 4.25 percentage points compared to the previous year.
This increase in emancipation has occurred despite the fact that the Islands have the second highest unemployment rate in the entire State, only behind Andalusia, and the second lowest salaries in Spain, only behind Extremadura.
However, if we look at the origin of the emancipated young people, we can see that the emancipation rate is much lower among people born in the islands than among those who came from other communities or from abroad, many of whom arrive in the Archipelago without their parents. In fact, among those born abroad, the emancipation rate was 41.4%, 28.6 percentage points higher than among those born in the Canary Islands.
The “Canarian reality”
The president of the Canary Islands Youth Council, Brenda Rivero, stressed that “the reality of the youth of our Islands needs its own and differentiated treatment, which responds to the needs and problems of access to housing in the Archipelago.”
“Public policies must be specific to address this situation, promoting alternatives for access to decent and affordable housing for young Canarians and curbing job insecurity,” said Rivero, who advocated for “generating a constant dialogue between institutions, civil society and the private sector to find effective solutions.”
For his part, the head of Socioeconomics of the Spanish Youth Council, Javier Muñoz, pointed out that “this problem is not exclusive to the Canary Islands, but here it acquires its own characteristics. It is essential that administrations work on comprehensive measures aimed at youth emancipation.”
5.2 years of salary for the down payment of an apartment
On the other hand, homes for sale have also become more expensive in a year in the Canary Islands by 7.5%, slightly less than those for rent. Although the increase is smaller, a young resident who earns the average young salary would have to dedicate their entire salary for 5.2 years to be able to pay the down payment of a home. In addition, even if they could save this amount, the cost of the mortgage would represent 95.1% of their monthly net salary, which would leave them without money to pay for supplies or anything else.
It is not surprising that 65.3% of young Canarians who do not live in the family home opt for rent, with an average expense of 400 euros per month. The cost of supplies, such as electricity or water bills, has increased in just one year by 11.4%, reaching 117.40 euros per month.
The second most common form of emancipation is free assignment: 13.2%. In addition, 35.3% of young people emancipated in the Canary Islands share an apartment, a figure 7.4 points higher than the national average.
Level of education and unemployment
At the end of 2023, 67.9% of young Canarians had an education that went beyond the compulsory level, whether it was post-compulsory secondary education, such as a baccalaureate or a mid-level vocational training cycle (41.1% of young people residing in the Canary Islands), or higher education, such as a university degree or a higher-level vocational training cycle (26.8%), 2.5 points more than in Spain as a whole.
However, the percentage of young people with higher education residing in the Canary Islands fell by 2.7 points in one year. If we look at the data by sex, there were more young women with higher education than men.
As in Spain as a whole, the possibility of being unemployed for young Canarians is inversely proportional to the level of education achieved. In fact, while the unemployment rate among young people with higher education residing in the Canary Islands is 18.3%, this skyrockets to 31.1% for those who only had compulsory secondary education. On the other hand, 56.3% of young unemployed people with experience were receiving unemployment benefits in December 2023, 6.2 points more than a year earlier.
Poverty or social exclusion
Data from the Emancipation Observatory indicate that 44% of young Canarians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This figure was only surpassed by Ceuta and Melilla and Andalusia and affected young Canarian men much more than women of the same age group. In addition, 30.1% of the young Canarian population with a job was also at risk of poverty.
Migratory movements
In 2022 (last year for which data is available), a total of 16,269 young people from abroad arrived in the Canary Islands, 88.2% of them without Spanish nationality. With respect to those who were going to other countries, 6,132 young people, also the majority had a foreign nationality (80.4%).
