Panic in Majorca as locals stop having babies - and tourist haters won’t be happy

The Balearic Islands are experiencing a worrying decline in birth rates (Image: Getty)

The Balearic Islands are heading towards a demographic crisis, with Majorca and Menorca now registering more deaths than births. Between January and September 2025, the Spanish archipelago saw a decrease of 3.3% over the same period last year, to just over 6,500 births, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on Wednesday (November 26).

Meanwhile, the INE statistics revealed that up to the week of October 27, 7,588 deaths were recorded in the Balearics - 0.54% more than in the same week of the previous year. This week alone, 148 people have died. While Majorca and Menorca stand at the precipice of a crisis, their neighbours, Ibiza and Formentera, are, for now, contributing the most to population growth, with more people being born than dying. However, there is one major factor that is helping to stave off the emergency, but it's one that will not sit well with those residents who are fighting to end mass tourism.

Majorca recorded 156 more deaths than births in 2024, while Menorca registered 128 (Image: Getty)

According to the newly released INE data, 41 municipalities in the archipelago have registered a negative vegetative growth. Of the 843 born in the archipelago in September, most were to mothers in the 30-34 age group, followed by the 35-39 and 25-29 age groups, according to La Voz de Ibiza.

In 2024, the vegetative growth in Ibiza resulted in 326 new inhabitants, a figure that contrasts with the negative balance in Menorca, which recorded 128 more deaths than births, and Majorca, with 156. Meanwhile, Formentera also saw a positive balance, with 24 new residents registered. Overall, the Balearics barely gained 66 residents born in the archipelago during the last year. Without Ibiza and Formentera's contributions, vegetative growth of the islands would have virtually been zero, Ultima Hora has claimed.

Yet, the Balearics have successfully averted a crisis, with overall population figures on the rise thanks to migration. Experts have claimed that without the arrival of immigrants, the island's population figures would have remained practically stagnant, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin. A significant proportion of the births recorded are to families who have recently moved to the islands, indicating that immigration is contributing to demographic growth. 

Immigration is contributing to demographic growth and averting a crisis (Image: Getty)

According to the latest statistics, as of September 1, the Balearics had reached a total of over 1.2 million inhabitants - a 0.2% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 0.9% rise from the same month the previous year. The quarterly growth is almost invisible, with the archipelago adding just 11,540 inhabitants over the year up to September.

Given the very low birth rate levels, it is clear that nearly all of these new residents are immigrants. It also suggests that the demographic future of the Balearic Islands will depend, to a large extent, on its capacity to attract residents from elsewhere.

Dropping birth rates lead to an ageing population, which can result in a shrinking workforce, a strain on public services like healthcare and pensions and lower economic growth. A sharp decline in the number of children has also been known to make some schools financially unviable, leading to closures.

Majorca has been one of the focal points for Europe's overtourism crisis, with several mass protests having been organised here and elsewhere and the Balearics against the current tourism model. In May 2024, for example, approximately 10,000 people protested in Palma, with other protests taking place the previous day on the islands of Menorca and Ibiza. Frustrations include a lack of sustainable quality tourism, a housing crisis, pressure on public services and social inequality.