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Growing Population in Galapagos

By jjacquet on May 3, 2007.

Tourism is not the only thing growing in Galapagos. The number of inhabitants has grown tremendously over the last 35 years and very few people have lived in Galapagos long enough to discern it. People can only live on five islands (one of which only allows an Ecuadorian military base) of the thirteen in the archipelago.

The population of the islands grew from ~5,000 to 15,000 between 1975 and 1998. Today, the population growth rate in Galapagos is around 7%, which is higher than any other province in Ecuador. Official census data from 2005 estimate ~24,000 island residents, though these are certainly underestimates as many people reside in the islands illegally. Images often do the work of many words. Here are photographs are the town of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz in 1970 and then in 2006.

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Puerto Ayora 1970: from the collection of O. Latorre published in H. Idrovo's Galapagos: Huellas en el Paraiso (p. 210)

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Puerto Ayora 2006: Richard Wollocombe

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