The Canary Islands have a population of 2,153,389 inhabitants (2019), making it the eighth most populous of Spain’s autonomous communities. The total area of the archipelago is 7,493 km2 (2,893 sq mi), resulting in a population density of 287.4 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The population of the islands according to the 2019 data are:

Tenerife – 917,841

Gran Canaria – 851,231

Lanzarote – 152,289 (including the population of La Graciosa)

Fuerteventura – 116,886

La Palma – 82,671

La Gomera – 21,503

El Hierro – 10,968

The Canary Islands have become home to many European residents, mainly coming from Italy, Germany and the UK. Because of the vast immigration to Venezuela and Cuba during the second half of the 20th century and the later return to the Canary Islands of these people along with their families, there are many residents whose country of origin was Venezuela (66,593) or Cuba (41,807). Since the 1990s, many illegal migrants have reached the Canary Islands, Melilla and Ceuta, using them as entry points to the EU.