Lanzarote gained nearly 60,000 inhabitants in the last 30 years

The "human pressure derived from tourism" causes "challenges in terms of sustainability, infrastructure, resource consumption, housing and environmental protection"

March 18 2024 (12:14 WET)
Arrecife Homes. Photo: José Luis Carrasco.
Arrecife Homes. Photo: José Luis Carrasco.

Lanzarote gained nearly 60,000 inhabitants in the last 30 years. The Canary Island has grown above the average of Spain due to economic and urban development. This is reflected in the report of System of joint indicators of Lanzarote and Menorca. Anniversary of the declaration as Biosphere Reserves (1993-2023).

"Lanzarote has more than doubled the inhabitants it had at the time of being declared a Biosphere Reserve," the document states. While Menorca suffered a more contained demographic growth, Lanzarote shot up its resident figures suffering a peak at the beginning of the 21st century that has not stopped growing until today.

The main role of tourism

According to this analysis, to a large extent, the demographic growth comes from the main economic engine of the island: tourism. The migratory balance of people who come to work in the tourism sector is the main reason for this growth. Currently, Lanzarote doubles the Spanish and Canarian average in terms of resident foreign population.

In data, at the end of the 90s, only 6% of the resident population on the island was foreign, but in 2022 it rose to 22.8%.

However, the demographic situation on the island is polyhedral. According to this study, despite the population increase derived from labor migrations, the "most relevant demographic process" is the "human pressure derived from tourism".

The sum of the resident population and the floating population, which is mostly made up of tourists, causes the resident population to increase by more than 40% throughout the year. This document reflects that the tourist pressure causes "challenges in terms of sustainability, infrastructure, resource consumption, housing and environmental protection."

To this situation is added that Lanzarote does not have periods of low tourist influx, as it does in Menorca. In this way, throughout the year, the island of volcanoes houses 239 people per square kilometer, while in Menorca there are 163 except in summer periods that can reach 300 per square kilometer.

To the demographic growth is added the aging of the population. Currently, one in ten people who reside on the island are over 64 years old.

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