Transformaciones recientes en la distribución territorial de la población de Canarias

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to analyze the movements and the growth of the population in the Canary Island in the last two decades of the XXth century. In this period, the Archipelago changes its economic and demographic model. The demographic growth rises to twice the Spaniard average, because of an immigration movement without precedents. This growth affects in different ways each island, since in some islands this growth multiplies by ten the national mean rates. At the same time, we can identify an important bias in the spatial distribution of the population, because the southern part of the islands has got the most part of this growth, the northern zones scarcely increases the population, and the metropolitan areas stay steady. The middle altitude areas of the southern part of the islands have lost population in favour of the coastal areas, due to the change of the economic development model of tourism instead of primary industry.