People on the streets in Palma, Mallorca

The resident and floating populations continue to grow. | Nuria Rincón

Andrew EdePalma07/07/2022 07:02
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The Balearics Statistics Institute (Ibestat) has assessed the population of the islands over Easter this year and has concluded that there was record human pressure for Easter. On Good Friday, April 15, the total number of people in the Balearics was put at 1,540,580, 62.8% more than on Good Friday in 1997.

While human pressure figures are regularly highlighted for the peak of summer tourism in August, the Ibestat numbers for Easter draw attention to a lessening of the impact of seasonality over the past 25 years. There has of course been resident population growth, but the floating population has also increased.

In 1997, the population of the Balearics was 780,019. By the start of this year, according to figures from the National Statistics Institute, it was 1,176,000. As to tourism, there were 165,890 visitors on Good Friday in 1997. This year there were 364,580.

Figures for the summer peak will be made available in November, when it will be seen if the all-time record is broken - 2,071,124 on August 9, 2017. The figures fell slightly in 2018 and 2019 and they obviously tumbled in 2020 and 2021, but it has been suggested that a new record may be registered this August.