Balearic population forecast to rise 15% by 2034

The Balearics, the institute suggests, will receive the most internal migration relative to the size of the region between now and 2034 - a balance of 31.6 per 1,000 inhabitants.

In Spain as a whole, the population is forecast to rise two per cent over the next fifteen years, meaning that the total population will top 48 million. By 2070, the population is predicted to reach 50.6 million.

The national increases in population, the institute says, will be due to migration, as there will be a negative balance (more deaths than births) over the whole period from now until 2070.

If current demographic trends are maintained, the research indicates that there will be population increases in eight regions of the country and decreases in the other nine.

The increases over the next fifteen years - in percentage terms - will be greatest in the Balearics (14.9%), followed by Madrid (9.1%) and the Canaries with 8.4%. The most marked decreases will be in Asturias and Castile and León (both minus ten per cent) and in Extremadura (-8.3%).

Unlike most of the country, the Balearics will experience a higher accumulated birth rate than death rate. Murcia will be the only other region where this happens, although the pattern is forecast to be the same in the autonomous north African cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

In terms of internal migration, the Balearics, Madrid and Navarre are forecast to attract the highest levels.