The resident population in the Canary Islands increased by 0.21% in the first quarter of the year with respect to the previous quarter, below the national average (+0.28%), according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE).
In Spain, the population increased by 136,916 people in the first quarter of 2023 and stood at 48,196,693 inhabitants on 1 April 2023. In annual terms, the estimated population growth is 590,184 people, the highest since 2008.
Spain’s growth was due to the increase in the number of people of foreign nationality, which offset the reduction in the number of people of Spanish nationality.
Thus, the number of foreigners increased by 149,530 persons during the first quarter, to a total of 6,227,092 on 1 April 2023. In contrast, the population of Spanish nationality decreased by 12,614 persons.
The foreign-born population was 8,307,497 persons, higher than the foreign-born population, due to Spanish naturalisation processes.
During the first quarter of 2023, it is estimated that the population grew in 15 Autonomous Communities and decreased in the remaining two, as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
The average growth rate was 0.28%, with the largest increases in relative terms occurring in Comunidad de Madrid (0.60%), Comunitat Valenciana (0.54%) and Catalonia (0.46%). At the other extreme, the population fell in Extremadura (-0.07%), Melilla (-0.12%) and Ceuta (-0.06).
Also below the national average growth rate were Murcia and the Balearic Islands with an increase of 0.25%, Navarre (0.23%), the Canary Islands (0.21%), Castile-La Mancha and Aragon (0.16%), La Rioja (0.14%), Andalusia (0.11%), the Basque Country (0.10%), Cantabria (0.08%), Asturias (0.07%), Castile and Leon (0.02%) and Galicia (0.0%).
The main nationalities of immigrants during the first quarter of 2023 were Colombian (with 44,300 arrivals in Spain), Moroccan (23,200) and Venezuelan (21,500).
On the other hand, the most numerous emigrant nationalities were Spanish (with 11,500 departures), Moroccan (8,400) and Romanian (7,700).
