SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 7. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced this Tuesday in Parliament that this week a commission will be set up to study the demographic challenge in the Archipelago, and that it will study, among other aspects, whether the increase in population leads I get a loss of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This has been advanced in the control session to the Government, in response to a question from the spokesman for the Gomera Socialist Group Parliamentary Group, Casimiro Curbelo, about the actions that the Executive is developing in order to achieve a better Canary Islands from the point of view of the democratic values and quality of life after 40 years of self-government.
In his speech, Ángel Víctor Torres pointed out that for years there has been a debate in the Islands about a possible super population in the Archipelago that is “real”, since in 1900 the Canary Islands had just over 300,000 inhabitants and today it has more than 2 ,2 millions.
Torres clarified that this population growth has not been the same in all the islands, since they are going at “different speeds.” Thus, he pointed out that Lanzarote had 77,000 inhabitants in 1996 and today it has 156,000, 102% more, and Fuerteventura has 180% more population, so it has multiplied by three. However, La Palma 25 years ago had 81,500 inhabitants and in December 2021 it had 83,000, that is, it has only increased by 2%.
Therefore, the head of the Canarian Executive stressed that the Canary Islands also suffer from a phenomenon of “empty islands” or islands that “walk at a different speed” compared to others, hence the importance of this commission that will be set up this week.
For his part, Casimiro Curbelo pointed out that although the Canary Islands have advanced in rights and freedoms during these 40 years of self-government, there are still deficits that must be corrected, such as poverty and social exclusion or dependence on fossil fuels. Therefore, he advocated focusing attention on this reality.
