The Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and Madrid will be the three regions with the highest GDP growth during the year 2023, according to the latest forecasts prepared by Funcas and BBVA Research. However, the data also shows that the wealth generated on the islands is not distributed evenly.
The per capita GDP figures on the islands show a constant downward trend, so much so, that if compared with the data from the year 2000, the islands are the ones that have lost the greatest wealth per inhabitant.
Historically, the Canary Islands have never exceeded the national average for GDP per capita and have continued to decrease compared to the starting figure for the year 2000, when the INE began to make the calculation.
In 2021, the islands registered the second worst rate per capita when the national average stood at 25,498 euros per inhabitant, the European Union stood at 32,430 euros per inhabitant, but the Canary Islands were only 18,990 euros per inhabitant.
This year the Balearic Islands will have GDP growth of 3.3%, according to both economic panels, while BBVA Research places growth in the Canary Islands at 2.8% and Funcas at 2.2%. In the case of Madrid, BBVA Research forecasts growth of its economy of 2%, and Funcas places it at 1.4%.
Unfortunately, though, the comparison of both data reflects that even though GDP will increase on the islands, this benefit is not projected in the per-inhabitant data. A comparison of the indicator between 2000 and 2021 by El País reflects that both archipelagos, whose economies are strongly linked to the tourism sector, are the ones that have registered the greatest loss of GDP per capita.
Tourism, the activity that has been lifting us out of poverty on the islands over the last 60 years, is beginning to become a hindrance in relation to social cohesion on the islands. Economic diversification is one of the mantras of leaders in recent years, but the message does not seem to have gotten through yet.
