The Number of Residents In Peñasco Is Much Larger Than What The Official Data Says

Officially there are 42 thousand people, reality is above 60 or 70 thousand.

By: Denise Lopez
Puerto Peñasco
Issue #396 10/02/2006

According to the last population census done by the National Institute of Geography, Statistics and Informatics (INEGI), in Puerto Peñasco there are 42 thousand people, but non-official registers show around 60 and 70 thousand.

The census made by the INEGI is done every five years and the last one was done in 2001, this could be one of the reasons for the difference in the data, as the population at this port has boomed over the last three years. Milton Felix Reyes, Economic Development director at the municipality commented that INEGI's 42 thousand residents are very far from the reality that we are living in Puerto Peñasco.

"According to the registers in the administration, we are above sixty thousand residents, with possibilities of being a lot more", Felix mentioned. He also explained that this numbers are based on the Municipal Water, Sewage and Sanitation department (OOMAPAS), plus the registers at the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). "The information at INEGI is not real, at least for Puerto Peñasco the data that they are handling is not precise", expressed Milton Felix.

This situation affects in the federal resources allocated to the community, as they are based on the number of residents in the municipality, and they are calculated based on the INEGI figures. The local authority considered as an option to elaborate a municipal census conducted by the local authorities, as long as INEGI recognize this data as official.

It is worth mentioning that the former major Ramón Martínez González also disagreed with the numbers handled by INEGI. "Today we are at least 60 thousand residents, if not more, the construction projects by themselves have around 5 thousand employees at the moment", expressed the former major.

According to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in this town there are more that 30 thousand affiliates to this medical service, and the number has been growing annually around 20% for the last three years. The IMSS has expressed before their disagreement with the INEGI figures as well, as they agree that Puerto Peñasco has around 70 thousand residents if you add the floating population to the permanent residents.

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