Three municipalities in Tenerife now have more foreign-born residents than locals, according to the latest data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), revealing significant demographic changes across the archipelago.
As of 1st January 2024, 22.6% of the population in the Canary Islands (505,075 people) were born outside Spain, marking a 5.8% increase compared to the previous year.
Among foreign nationals, the largest group hails from Venezuela, accounting for 3.7% of the total population. Other prominent nationalities include Cubans (2.6%), Colombians (2.2%) and Italians (1.9%), demonstrating the strong link the islands have with South America.
In Tenerife, the municipalities where the foreign-born population now outnumbers the local one are Adeje, where 56.52% of residents were born abroad; Arona, with 51.8%; and Santiago del Teide, with 51.5%. The only other municipality in the Canary Islands to show a similar trend is La Oliva in Fuerteventura, where foreign residents make up 50.74% of the population.
Tenerife itself has a foreign-born population rate of 24.7%, placing it behind Fuerteventura (38.4%), Lanzarote (33.2%), El Hierro (30.5%) and La Gomera (25.4%) in terms of the proportion of non-Spanish residents. It is followed by La Palma (22.6%) and Gran Canaria (15.6%).
The ISTAC report also shows a substantial number of residents born in other regions of Spain. These account for 8.4% of the Canary Islands’ population, with most coming from Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Galicia and Catalonia. In Tenerife, residents born in other Spanish regions make up 7.9% of the population.
Despite the growth in foreign and mainland-born populations, 62% of people living in Tenerife were born on the island itself. This figure is considerably lower than in Gran Canaria, where 75% of residents are locally born, and La Palma (66.6%). In contrast, islands such as Lanzarote (44.8%), El Hierro (42.2%) and Fuerteventura (33.4%) show a much lower proportion of native-born residents.
Tenerife also led the Canary Islands in absolute population growth in 2023, gaining 10,374 new residents. The total population across the archipelago reached 2,238,754 at the beginning of 2024, an increase of 1.2% compared to the previous year. Gran Canaria followed Tenerife with 7,091 new residents, then Lanzarote (4,432), Fuerteventura (2,524), La Palma (1,044), La Gomera (146), and El Hierro (127).
In relative terms, Lanzarote (2.8%) and Fuerteventura (2%) experienced the fastest growth, followed by La Palma (1.2%), El Hierro and Tenerife (both 1.1%), Gran Canaria (0.8%) and La Gomera (0.7%).
At the municipal level, Arrecife and Granadilla de Abona saw the highest population increases, at 5.1% and 3.9% respectively, and were among the top three fastest-growing municipalities in Spain, only surpassed by Torrevieja, which recorded a 6.7% rise.
Of the 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands, only 14 lost population last year. The total decline across these municipalities amounted to 297 residents. Hermigua, in La Gomera, experienced the largest relative decrease, with a 2.7% drop between January 2023 and January 2024.
