The autonomous community of the Balearic Islands is comprised of four main islands – the largest and most populous of which is Mallorca, which had a population of over 966,000 inhabitants as of January 2025. Meanwhile, the second island on the list, Ibiza, was home to roughly 163,000 inhabitants. With its crystal-clear beaches, the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands attracts millions of domestic and international visitors each year. Which Balearic Island receives the most tourists? Mallorca received the lion's share of tourist arrivals in the Balearic Islands in 2022. That year, nearly 70 percent of tourists in the Balearic Islands visited Mallorca, and this figure remained relatively consistent with the previous three years. The island is a particularly popular travel destination for Germans. In 2022, the number of German tourist arrivals in Mallorca was 3.9 million. How many tourists visit Spain each year? Spain ranked second on the World Tourism Organization’s list of most visited countries in the world in 2023, with 85 million foreigners having visited that year. The Mediterranean country is also one of Europe’s favorite holiday destinations. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were some of the leading countries to visit Spain in 2023. That year, over 17 million tourists came from the United Kingdom alone.

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This dataset accompanies the study Crime Metrics in Ibiza: Alternative Models and the Impact of the Floating Population, which analyzes crime trends in Ibiza between 2019 and 2024. The dataset provides comprehensive information on crime rates, population fluctuations, and alternative methodologies for calculating crime incidence in a region characterized by strong seasonal variations. Traditional crime rates are usually calculated based on census population data, which does not account for temporary residents, tourists, or seasonal workers. To address this limitation, two alternative methodologies were applied, incorporating floating population estimates to refine crime rate calculations and provide a more accurate representation of criminal activity on the island.

The dataset is structured into multiple sheets, each containing specific variables related to crime and population estimates. It includes official census population data sourced from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) and crime rates derived from these figures. Additionally, the dataset contains estimated figures for tourism accommodation, based on statistics from the Balearic Institute of Statistics (IBESTAT). Using these estimates, a floating population adjustment has been applied, which allows for a recalculated crime rate that considers the significant impact of tourism on the island’s demographics.

A second approach within the dataset estimates the population using urban waste production data, sourced from the Consell d’Eivissa. Since the amount of waste generated is closely linked to population density, this methodology provides an alternative way to estimate the real number of people present on the island at any given time. The crime rates have been recalculated accordingly, providing an additional perspective on the relationship between demographic fluctuations and crime trends.

The dataset is derived from multiple authoritative sources, including official crime statistics from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, census population data from INE, and detailed tourism and accommodation figures from IBESTAT. The urban waste methodology is based on data provided by the Consell d’Eivissa, which records the volume of waste generated by municipalities on a yearly basis. By integrating these diverse data sources, the dataset offers a more precise and adaptable model for understanding crime dynamics in a tourism-dependent region.

The methodologies applied in this dataset highlight the importance of accounting for floating populations when analyzing crime rates. The traditional crime rate model, which only considers permanent residents, tends to overestimate crime levels in regions with large seasonal populations. The tourism-based adjustment method corrects this by incorporating official and unofficial accommodation figures, while the urban waste-based method offers an alternative approach by estimating the real-time population based on resource consumption. Both approaches reveal significant differences between conventional crime rates and adjusted figures, emphasizing the need for policymakers to adopt more refined methodologies when developing crime prevention strategies.

This dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0) license, allowing for its free use, redistribution, and modification, provided that proper attribution is given. Researchers, policymakers, and criminologists are encouraged to use this dataset to further explore crime trends in tourism-heavy regions and to develop more accurate statistical models for crime analysis.

Domestic tourism represented 25.8 percent of tourist arrivals in the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Fomentera in 2022. The United Kingdom was the main source market for inbound tourism in these two Balearic Islands that same year, with a share of visitor arrivals of 24.1 percent.

This statistics shows the volume of passenger traffic at Ibiza Airport from 2005 to 2020. Over the period of time under consideration, the volume of passengers that visited Ibiza by air travel experienced an upward trend, peaking in 2019 with over 8.1 million passengers. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, passenger traffic at the Spanish airport dropped to 2.11 million.

In 2023, the number of tourist arrivals in the Balearic Islands reached 17.9 million. The number of international tourist arrivals in the Balearic Islands was roughly 14.4 million, while the number of domestic tourist arrivals was 3.4 million.