The Balearic Islands – The Germans’ favorite destination

They are called “Illes Balears” in Catalan and “Islas Baleares” in Spanish: We are talking about the Balearic Islands, a wonderful archipelago that covers an area of ​​around 5,000 km² east of Spainspreads in the Mediterranean. The Balearic Islands consist of the Gimnesias in the north, which include Mallorca, Menorca and Cabrera, and the Pitiusas in the southwest, of which Ibiza and Formentera are the two largest. Apart from the five inhabited islands mentioned, 146 uninhabited islands belong to the Balearic Islands, such as the protected rocky islets Pantaleu and Dragonera. By far the largest and most touristically interesting island of the Balearic Islands is of course Mallorca with a size of approx. 3620.42 km². All the Balearic Islands, located in the western Mediterranean and belonging to Spain, of course, form an autonomous community of Spain, a “Comunidad Autónoma”. This means that they are local authorities which, according to the Spanish Constitution, have certain legislative and other powers.Palma (de Mallorca).

The archipelago, which can be proud of a coastline of around 1,200 kilometers, owes its name to the Els Foners Balears, which were called Ballein or Baliarides in Greek. This meant the dreaded ancient slingshots who came from the islands and who had been involved in wars as mercenaries in ancient times. Today, the name of the Balearic Islands is associated with immaculate beaches, a lot of culture, a pleasantly relaxed attitude to life and of course the excellent climate, which with around 300 days of sunshine a year will inspire every regenerated Northern European. So it’s no wonder that the Balearic Islands are visited and sometimes haunted by around 10,000,000 tourists every year, with 90% of these visitors going to Mallorca alone. As the most popular travel destination in Spain, the Balearic Islands can even record more tourist arrivals at Palma Airport than in any other Spanish city. And quite a few travelers stayed the same or came back later to live forever on the islands (and especially Mallorca). An estimated 35,000 Germans have officially found a new home on the islands, unofficially there are an estimated 70,000 – and who knows, maybe you too would like to be one of them soon…

Note:
This page only applies to the Balearic Islands. Although these belong to Spain and do not form a separate country, they are so popular as a tourist destination that we have dedicated their own presentation to them.

Name of the islands	Las Islas Baleares (span.) Illes Balears (catal.)
Form of government	Autonomous government (autonomous since March 1, 1983)
President	Francesc Antich Oliver (PSOE)
Geographical location	The Balearic Islands are east of mainland Spain in the western Mediterranean. Valencia is 240 km west of the islands on the Spanish coast. It is well known that the Balearic Islands belong to Spain.
National anthem	At the moment the Balearic Islands do not have their own anthem.
Population	Approx. 1.1 million
Ethnicities	Spaniards, Catalans, Galicians, Basques The proportion of foreigners in the Balearic Islands is 16.76%. Of these, 30,000 are officially Germans and British.
Religion	Roman Catholic Christianity
Languages	Spanish (Castellano) and Catalan (Català) are the two official languages. Furthermore, island-specific variants are spoken such as Majorcan, Menorcan and Ibizan.
Administrative headquarters	Palma (de Mallorca) with approx. 405,000 residents
Surface	Approx. 5,000 km² – Mallorca with 3640 km² – Menorca with 700 km² – Ibiza with 572 km² – Formentera with 100 km²) and others
Highest mountain	Puig Major (1.445) in the Serra de Tramuntana on Mallorca
License plate of Spain	E.
National currency	Euro (€) = 100 cents
Time difference to CET	CET applies.
International phone code	0034
Mains voltage, frequency	220 V, 50 Hz
Internet Top Level Domain (TLD)	.it

Balearic Islands: population and cities

Population

Population
The Balearic Islands have around 1.1 million residents and around 2% of the total Spanish population. More than 813,700 residents all fall on the main island of Mallorca, which is home to around 79% of the total population of the Balearic Islands. On the whole, the Balearic Islands are very densely populated with a population density of approx. 206 residents/km² by Spanish standards, because this is more than twice the national average of approx. 83 residents/km² (for comparison the European average: 119 Residents/ km²). The population fluctuates very strongly every year, especially in the summer months, when an estimated ten million tourists come to the islands (and 90% of them come to Mallorca alone).

Ethnic composition
The majority of the population of the Balearic Islands is Spanish and Catalan. About 16.76% of the Balearic population were not native born. They immigrated mainly from Germany (approx. 26,200) and Great Britain (approx. 17,700). Most of these also live on the main island of Mallorca.

Religious affiliation
About 95% percent of Spaniards are baptized Roman Catholics. There are also smaller communities of Protestants, Jews and Muslims.National languages The official languages ​​in the Balearic Islands are – in accordance with Article 3 of the Statute of Autonomy – Spanish (Castellano) and Catalan (Català). This statute also stipulated that there should be no discrimination against one of these languages, but that both should have the same status. In addition to the two languages, there are of course the island-specific variations of the official languages, including Mallorcan, Menorcan and Ibizan.

Administrative headquarters and other cities

The administrative seat and largest city of the Balearic Islands is Palma (de Mallorca) on the island of Mallorca. A total of around 405,000 people live there.
Other major cities in the Balearic Islands include:

Calvià (Mallorca) with around 48,000 residents
Eivissa (Ibiza) with around 44,000 residents
Manacor (Mallorca) with around 38,000 residents
Llucmajor (Mallorca) with around 33,000 residents
Marratxí (Mallorca) with around 31,000 residents
Santa Eulària des Riu (Ibiza) with around 28,400 population
Inca (Mallorca) with about 28,300 residents
Mahon (Minorca) with about 28,250 residents
Ciutadella (Minorca) with about 28,000 residents
Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza) of about 20,000 people
Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza) with about 19,900 residents