According to the municipal statistics, Almuñécar has 29,025 official inhabitants, However, the official figure, according to the Instituto de Estadística de Andalucía is only 27.696.

The Town Hall figure is taken from the Lista de Empadronados, which are notoriously inaccurate, admittedly, but God knows where the IEA gets its figures from. This discrepancy does not please the Town Hall because the 1,329 missing inhabitants means a loss of income, as well, as the funds received by municipalities is based on the number of its inhabitants; fewer inhabitants; less income.

Besides that, the Town Hall entertains the theory that there might be a political motive behind it: the growth of the coastal population would mean an extra seat on the provincial council, which could upset the present status quo.

However, perhaps what the Town Hall hasn’t taken into account that many young people have left the town in search of work in the capital or in other provinces and not everybody bothers changing their empadronamiento details.