Are the Canaries the poorest outermost region?

No. On disposable income, French Guiana (12,000 euros) and Mayotte (8,500 euros) are lower. The Canaries sit behind every other island outermost region in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, 6th of 8.

Why are the figures from 2023?

Regional household accounts appear more than two years after the event. The table was updated on 20 May 2026; the Canary figure is provisional.

Is primary income the same as wages?

No. It also includes employers' contributions, self-employed income and income from assets, divided by all residents, including children and pensioners.

Is it because the Canaries have fewer pensioners?

Not against the Azores and Madeira. The Canaries receive more social benefits per head than both. The difference lies mainly in direct taxes.

Does this mean Madrid shortchanges the Canaries?

The figure does not show that. The Canaries give up a smaller share than the Spanish average, and the indirect tax advantages of the REF are not in the balance at all.

15,300 euros: Canaries trail Azores and Madeira after tax

15,300 euros a head: why the Canaries fall behind the Azores and Madeira after tax

Canary households had an average of 15,300 euros per inhabitant left to spend in 2023 — less than in the Azores, Madeira, Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion. That is the finding of Eurostat's latest regional statistics, whose reference year is now three years old. What stands out is the reversal: before taxes and benefits, the Canaries earn more than the Azores and Madeira. Redistribution flips the order — and the usual explanation for it does not survive the data.

21 September 2026 · By Martin Kosinski · 6 min. · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

Ahead before, behind after

Primary income is what households earn from work and assets — employee pay including employers' contributions, the profits of the self-employed, interest, rents — so it is more than wages. Disposable income is what is left after direct taxes and social contributions, and after pensions and other cash benefits. On primary income the Canaries rank 4th of the eight outermost regions in 2023, ahead of the Azores and Madeira. On disposable income they slip to 6th. Two caveats: the EU counts nine outermost regions, but Eurostat publishes no separate regional figures for Saint-Martin. And the gap to the Azores is wafer-thin — the unrounded totals give a difference of around 50 euros per inhabitant, with a provisional Canary figure. Level with the Azores, clearly behind Madeira, is the more accurate description.

Where the 1,500 euros go

By our calculation — Eurostat totals in millions of euros divided by average population — each Canary resident paid around 2,080 euros in direct taxes on income and wealth in 2023, against 950 in the Azores and 1,120 in Madeira. On social contributions the difference is smaller: 3,750 euros against 3,410 and 3,530. On cash benefits the Canaries are actually ahead, with 4,530 euros against 4,360 and 4,310. Of the roughly 1,680-euro difference in the balance with the Azores, about two thirds is therefore direct tax; against Madeira, just over half. The rest is mainly other transfers, where Madeira comes out ahead.

The pensioner theory does not hold

The obvious explanation would be that the Canaries are younger, have fewer pensioners and therefore get fewer pensions back. Against the Portuguese islands that is not true. According to Eurostat, 17.5 per cent of Canary residents were 65 or older in 2023, against 17.0 in the Azores and 20.5 per cent in Madeira. The Canaries are therefore older than the Azores and receive more cash benefits per head than both archipelagos. La Réunion contradicts the theory too: only 14.5 per cent are over 65, and it is still a net receiver. The age explanation fits only against Spain as a whole, where 20.1 per cent are over 65 and cash benefits reach around 5,600 euros per inhabitant. The gap with the Azores and Madeira arises in what is paid in, not in what comes back.

No special sacrifice

Paying in more than you get back in cash is the norm in Europe. By our calculation the Canaries give up 8.9 per cent of their primary income (1,500 of 16,800 euros). The Spanish average is 9.9 per cent, the Balearics 16.2 and the EU 14.3 per cent. The exception is not the Canaries but the Azores, Madeira and La Réunion, which are net receivers. One possible background: Portugal's law on the finances of the autonomous regions allows the Azores and Madeira to cut national income tax rates by up to 30 per cent, The Azores have applied the full 30 per cent since January 2022; Madeira most recently applied it only up to the sixth bracket and extends it to all brackets in 2026 (business daily ECO, November 2025). How much this explains, the statistics do not say; progressivity also plays a part, since those who earn more before tax pay proportionally more. Purchasing power changes the picture only partly: against the EU the gap narrows (81.0 rather than 72.9 per cent), but against the Azores and Madeira it widens, to 17,000 against 17,800 and 18,200 PPS. Purchasing power standards use national price levels; they do not capture Canary prices.

Overtaken in the pandemic

The reversal is recent. In 2019, Canary disposable income, at 13,400 euros per inhabitant, was still ahead of the Azores (12,900) and Madeira (12,800). In the pandemic year 2020, Canary primary income collapsed from 14,700 to 12,700 euros, more than on the Portuguese islands; disposable income fell just below the Azores and has not caught up since. Between 2019 and 2023, Canary disposable income grew by 14 per cent, the Azores' by 19 and Madeira's by 23 per cent. The driver sits before redistribution: primary income rose by 30 per cent in Madeira, 22 in the Azores and 14 in the Canaries (our calculations from rounded Eurostat values); the Portuguese islands' net receipts actually shrank. It fits our report on the median wage.