The island of Mallorca has app. 615.000 inhabitants, half of them living in the capital Palma de Mallorca, the other half being spread over the 53 municipalities.

Following for interested readers an overview of the largest towns of Mallorca including their numbers of inhabitants:

App. 325.000 in Palma de Mallorca
App. 28.000 in Manacor
App. 22.200 in Inca.

Mallorca has an eventful history, that reaches back many millenniums and that has strongly influences the ethnic development. Discoveries from the 5th millennium bc. point at the settlement of Neolithics. Also the later arrival of the so called bell-breaker culture cannot be excluded. But the settlement of people from Sardinia and Coors surely is proved. Still today one can admire the impressing stone monuments from the 14th century bc. Later the Punics used the group of islands as a trade place. Also the Romans were represented in the 2nd century. The conquest of Spain by the Muslim army lead to Arabic influence.

In the 14th century the number of inhabitants decreased due to various reasons. On the one hand people were again and again endangered by wars and piratry, on the other hand people fighted against famines and epidemic diseases. Hoping for better living in rural areas people left the larger cities, thus these deserted. Later in the 16th century the cities were resettled new, because of the economic growth. Life in the cities started again.

It was in this century that the number of inhabitants increased up to 250.000; already 1960 the number grew to 360.000. Today the same amount lives in the capital of Mallorca. This number can be explained by the escape of the people from rural areas. From 1960 on the number of tourists increased, already at that time one spoke of mass tourism. The people from rural areas found jobs in many hotels and other tourist branches.

Today the rural areas have been rediscovered. This is the result of the change of structure in the last years. One has to note though that a lot of non-Mallorca-people are within the discoverers of the rural environment. A lot of tourists find a special charm in the old farms and fincas that have been reconstructed into holiday apartments. This leads to the change of agricultural areas into comfortable and exclusive holiday surroundings.