As of the end of December, Pollensa’s municipal register had 17,177 people. Of these, 9,126 were living in Pollensa itself, 7,766 in Puerto Pollensa and 285 in Cala Sant Vicenç.
Two things that arise from this are the administration of Pollensa and the municipality’s demographics. For the latter, I have to thank ‘Punt Informatiu’ for a graphic indicating population age in 2000, 2010 and 2020. It is very noticeable that an age range of 15 to 39 was greater than it now is in 2000 and 2010; it is down by some 600. It is also noticeable the extent to which the 40 to 85+ group has increased; it has done so for every five-year age range between 40 and 85+. For the 55-59 bracket, as an example, the increase has been especially marked; since 2000 it has risen by around 600 to getting on for 1,400. For the 40 to 59 age range as a whole, there are some 5,500 people, 32% of the entire population.
In 2000, the 15-39 group was in the region of 5,600; 40-59 was roughly 60% of this. People have clearly aged, people have also moved in, but the differences are nevertheless quite stark. This leads one to wonder if this shift in the age balance is at least partly due to migration from Pollensa because of difficulties with finding affordable accommodation, or indeed any, such has been the explosion in holiday rentals, a point that former mayor, Miquel Àngel March, has made.
When it comes to administration, the population difference between Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa isn’t that great. It does therefore point to some validity to the argument that Puerto Pollensa should have greater administrative autonomy. The population of Puerto Pollensa isn’t dissimilar to that of Porto Cristo, where there has been a good deal of talk of an entity separate to Manacor.