Palma population more than 400´000

Joan Collins PALMA'S population grew by 18'479 residents in 2005, 4.6 percent compared with the year before, to 400'872 people on the electoral register, of whom 196'954 are men and 203'918 are women, according to figures extracted from the electoral register as at January 1 2006 and presented yesterday by the councillor for internal affairs, Catalina Terrassa. The Llevant district is the one with most residents, with 137'697 people, followed by Ponent (115'315); Nord (87'764); Playa de Palma (34'844); and Centre (25'252), although this last area has a higher density of residents, with 131.6 people per hectare, whereas the average in Palma is 18.7 residents per hectare. The density in the rest of the districts is much lower, with 33.38 residents per hectare in Ponent; 31.4 in the Playa de Palma; 18.11 in Nord and 13.88 in Llevant, said Terrassa, who added that the section of the foreign population which had grown most between 1999 and 2005 were those coming from Ecuador, followed by Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Bulgaria and Germany. During the presentation of a CD containing the statistical data for the population of Palma, Terrassa also said that, with regard to the districts, the one which had grown most in 2005, both in Spanish and foreign population was Son Cotoner, with a rise of 674 residents in 2005 compared with 2004. This is followed by Pere Garau, with 603 more people and Les Meravelles with 379. Of all the people moving to Palma in 2005, the majority were Spanish, with a rise of 45.13 percent in comparison with 2004, while the number of immigrants from outside the European Union grew by 44.43 percent and the number from within the EU by 10.44 percent. Terrassa said that there was no way of knowing if the immigrant population which is continuing to arrive in Palma, “will stay at the same level or alter radically”. For this purpose, she said, Palma council is making “a big effort to offer services aimed at recently arrived people”, with regard to social, school, transport and housing matters. At the same time Terrassa said that from now on they will be increasing the number or areas where a certificate can be obtained to prove you are on the electoral register. In addition to going to the offices in Plaza Santa Eulalia, it can be obtained in the seven Citizen Service Units throughout Palma, at the mobile offices which have been introduced this year and the ATMs in La Caixa. The CD presented yesterday by Terrassa, of which 1'000 copies have been distributed, will be sold for three euros.