The pandemic and Brexit have both had an impact on the people of Marbella in the past year /
Mobility restrictions due to the pandemic and Brexit have taken their toll on the city’s population, which remains the second largest in the province
The latest census data reveals that the number of people registered in Marbella has increased again, although there has been a significant slowdown in the growth rate of registrations on the “Padrón” of the town hall, caused by the pandemic and the Brexit. Although experts believe this is a one-time case and a continuous increase in real estate sales shows a different reality.
The figures also reveal that Marbella is the second most populous city in the province of Malaga, home to around nine percent of the 1.7 million people living in the province. It is the seventh most populous city in Andalusia, with more registered inhabitants than some provincial capitals, including Huelva.
According to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the number of people registered in the “Padrón” of the Marbella City Hall on January 1, 2022 amounts to a total of 147,958 inhabitants, against 147,633 registered in the January 1, 2021. This translates into an increase of only 325 residents in one year. In 2017, the census confirmed just under 300 new registrations, but between 2015 and 2016 there was a total increase of 1,207 people.
In 2019, the year before the pandemic, the upward trend in enrollments resulted in the enrollment of 1,923 additional residents, which rose from 141,463 inhabitants in 2018 to 143,386 in 2019. This figure has more than than doubled in 2020 based on data on new residents registered (4,247).
The town hall attributed this significant increase in the number of registered residents to the large community of foreign residents in Marbella which, with just over 43,000 registered residents, accounts for around 30% of the town’s census, of which the British continue to report. ‘to be the most present nationality. in the city.
For Marbella’s adviser for foreign residents, Remedios Bocanegra, Brexit has been a key factor in the increase in UK registrations, with people registering on the Padrón having become a residency requirement after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
According to immigration experts, including Marbella lawyer Ricardo Bocanegra, the pandemic has inevitably had an impact on the latest figures, with people unable to leave their countries and travel to Spain, meaning that foreigners are no longer able to leave their countries. were unable to come and complete their registration. procedures or renew them, so that they were automatically deleted from the census.