A cohesive country or simply a transit territory: what future do the Islands want?
The Balearic Islands are experiencing a paradox: they need immigrant labor and, at the same time, they are driving workers away due to the high cost of living, with housing at the heart of the problems.
PalmAs the population of the Balearic Islands has grown, so too has the lack of social cohesion. Adding to this the spread of far-right rhetoric and the increasing influx of vulnerable people arriving by sea, it becomes clear that the Islands will face, yet again, the major challenge of social cohesion in 2026. With over 1.2 million inhabitants, half of whom were born elsewhere, the islands' multicultural identity needs to be rethought. All this is happening while living conditions are becoming increasingly difficult for the majority of the population, who can no longer even dream of owning a home. Many people are forced to leave, making the Islands a place of transit. The situation is complex, defies easy solutions, and demands a concerted effort from everyone, especially politicians and institutions.
"Social cohesion is the main challenge for any society, but no other has the demographic diversity that exists here," notes David Abril, Professor of Sociology at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), who calls for social integration "beyond identity issues" and the involvement of institutions. "This picture of cultural diversity is not being addressed through public policy, and 21st-century Balearic society is defined by immigration," continues Abril, who also calls for "a certain pride" in the diversity of island society.
Demographer and UAB professor Andreu Domingo emphasizes the generational nature of territorial identities. This dynamism should serve as an antidote to the far-right's discourses on cultural replacement, which have already been adopted by progressive sectors as well. "Each generation interprets and reads identity, which is constantly changing. The moment is crucial because it determines how the Balearic society, with its migrants and children of migrants, interprets culture. Do they feel Balearic? What is the role of schools? And the cultural industry? Who dominates the system of cultural and social reproduction in the Balearic Islands? Who makes the decisions?" These are some of the questions.
Workers who cannot live there
Needing workers while simultaneously expelling them because building a life in the Balearic Islands is currently impossible: this is the great paradox facing the islands, a situation that greatly affects immigrants and young people. "We need people from outside, and at the same time, our economic model is driving them away," emphasizes José Luis García, general secretary of CCOO Balears, adding that, despite the arrival of qualified migrants, they end up doing "unskilled jobs." Now, if the islands want to retain the workforce they need, one of the most urgent issues is the housing crisis. "No matter how much we look for people in other countries because we lack labor here, the housing situation will make it impossible for people to sell," says García. Thus, "economic growth will stagnate as a result of economic growth itself." Another paradox. "The INE data shows that we are not retaining our population. [In 2024] 43,000 foreigners arrived and 28,000 left," Abril points out. In the case of workers from other autonomous communities, 1,383 remained, but 21,000 had arrived. The sociologist emphasizes that, with the current economic model, the Balearic labor market needs 15,000 people each year. Workers, who increasingly come alone and without their families to work for a few months, are not the only ones leaving. Many young islanders, a good number of them qualified, are leaving for other parts of Spain or for other countries in search of a minimum quality of life. If 5,022 young people aged 16 to 34 emigrated to another country in 2022, "in 2023 that number had already reached 5,969," says Abril, adding that "an equivalent number left for another region." "Almost 12,000 left," he states, and points out that half of the salaries of workers in the Islands "don't reach 18,000 euros," a figure that makes it completely impossible to access housing, whether buying or renting. "It's not just an exodus of retirees to the mainland. It's happening with young people too," emphasizes José Luis García, certain that "access to housing will be the epicenter of the crisis" he will sell.
A new perspective is needed for migrants, for those who migrated long ago and for those who were born here. A new approach that also offers opportunities to minors who make a very dangerous journey to reach the Islands alone. “We stigmatize them. We don’t think about them from a human rights perspective, nor from a more self-interested perspective, to train them and take advantage of that human capital,” laments García. But the Balearic Islands face another humanitarian challenge if it comes to defending human rights: “We should be concerned that they don’t die. More than a thousand deaths [on the Algerian route to the Islands in 2025] should weigh on everyone’s conscience,” Abril concludes.
