Territorial and Social Imbalances

RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE CANARY ECONOMY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY: TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL IMBALANCES Previous general considerations Since joining the European Union in 1986, the Canary Islands have connected their development on the social and economic fronts. Since then, the Islands have combined the advantages of being recognized as an outermost zone with direct access to a sizable market like the European one without the need for customs barriers to receive very advantageous differentiated treatment.3. Due to their distant location, the Islands have experienced a significant influx of European funding in an attempt to overcome obstacles and make up for the loss of their historical fiscal and commercial uniqueness. Owing to over twenty years of adjustment to the new community structure, our area has become accustomed to having comparable economic and social success percentages to the most advantageous autonomous communities in Spain. The Canary Archipelago sow the largest growth in disposable family income (40-45%) between 1996 and 2001, bringing it even closer to the predictions of European convergence in terms of rising living standards and social cohesiveness. 4 However, according to the INE, it not only doubled the buying power of the Spanish average but was also the sixth autonomous community with the largest cumulative GDP growth, with a gain of 29.3%, about 3% above the state average. All of this is taking place on a socioeconomic level, but as a direct result, there is a documented continuance (and emphasis) of both legal and illegal migrant Hows. These currents have seen extremely noteworthy levels throughout the 1990s due to conjunctural events associated with the growth of the island's productive industries, which include building, agriculture, and services. There's still a chance that these flows will significantly alter because of circumstances outside of the Islands' control. However, in the meanwhile, arrivals into the Archipelago are beginning to outnumber exits. On the one hand, it is important to draw attention to the ongoing influx of foreign residents from various Western and Nordic European countries. This phenomenon is connected to the Canary Islands' residential functions, as long-stay tourists, early retirees, and retirees make up the largest foreign population in our Islands by far, second only to those from other Spanish autonomous communities. However, concerning the well-known South-North migrations, it is important to draw attention to the growing number of labor immigrants associated with tourism and housing services. All of them support the growth of economic labor immigration from Latin America, the Maghreb nations, and Africa in general, as well as the current influx of non-EU migrants from Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Along with the above mentioned factors, a significant portion of the island's population is concentrated in coastal andlor tourism towns, which are continuing to see increases in population density. There are now a lot of young people living in these more dynamic places, and their demographic structures are still highly active. In this regard, the vibrancy of the local populations in tourist-oriented municipalities, like those in Lanzorote (Tías, Yaíza, San Bartolomé), Fuerteventura (Pájara and La Oliva), Gran Canaria (ingenio, Agüimes, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán), Tenerife (Puerto de La Cruz, Arona, Adeje, Santiago del Teide and Guía de Isora), and La Gomera (Valle de Gran Rey).