According to figures from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE), 46% of the population of the Balearic Islands was born outside the region. There are 541,127 residents who were born in another region of Spain or overseas. These compare with the 635,127 who were born on the islands. This 46% is the highest for all the regions, above even Madrid with 43.91%.
The latest revision of population statistics is based on town hall registrations as of January 1, 2022. For the whole of Spain, it indicates that one in four people born in Spain live in a region different to that in which they were born. In the Balearics, however, there is a different picture - 91.52% per cent of those born on the islands continue to live in the region. This percentage is higher in only three other regions: Catalonia 91.99%, Valencia 92.70% and the the Canary Islands 95.84%.
On the one hand, therefore, there is relatively low emigration from the Balearics but there has been comparatively high immigration, the movement from other regions being a pattern that began to emerge in the late 1960s.
This became less pronounced in the early years of the century but was replaced by an increase in the arrival of foreign residents. Communities like the British and German had been established and were now joined by an influx from Latin America in particular. The INE figures show that there are now 289,762 residents who were born in another country and 251,365 who were born in another region of Spain.
The largest community from other regions is Andalusian - 85,048 people - well ahead of people from Catalonia (37,388) and Madrid (22,769). The principal reason for this migration is employment.