Which are the cities, towns and villages in Spain with the most swimming pools per head of population?

Logic would suggest that inland provinces have the most swimming pools, because the inhabitants of coastal provinces already have access to the vast seas and beaches to cool off in the sweltering summer. However, assumptions are one thing, reality is quite another. While Madrid is the Spanish province with the most open-air swimming pools, (a total of 145,881), the next five provinces on this list all have a coastline: Alicante, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga and the Balearic Islands. The Costa del Sol province is fifth on the list to have the most swimming pools in Spain, with 82,559 in total, according to recently updated land registry data. This does not include Navarre or the Basque provinces as they have their own institutions for inventorising rural and urban real estate. This statistic also shows that, among the 12 municipalities with the most swimming pools, three are from Malaga province with Marbella in the lead (third in the ranking).

Nevertheless, to determine the true density of properties with pools, we have to measure the number of inhabitants per pool. Here is where Malaga drops back in the table: in this province, there is one pool for every 21.5 inhabitants, while in Guadalajara the ratio is one pool for every 14.20 inhabitants and Alicante and the Balearic Islands are similar with one pool for every 15 inhabitants. Also ahead of Malaga are other inland provinces, including some close to Madrid such as Toledo and Avila, as well as Jaen. Others on the coast, such as Girona and Tarragona are also ahead of Malaga.

In addition to providing information on the number of swimming pools by province, the land registry data drills down to the detail by municipality. Once again the Costa del Sol stands out. Marbella is listed in third place for the Spanish towns with most swimming pools, currently with around 11,300. Only Madrid (14,757) and Cordoba (12,053) are ahead of it.

Among the top ten municipalities with the highest number of swimming pools in all of Spain, there is another one from Malaga: Mijas is in seventh place with 8,770 pools. Ahead of it are the city of Murcia, Chiclana de la Frontera (in Cadiz province) and Javea (Alicante province). Below Mijas are Elche and Orihuela (Alicante), as well as Palma de Mallorca and Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid). Close behind, in twelfth place in this ranking is Malaga city with its 6,549 swimming pools. This makes it the fifth provincial capital with the most pools, after Madrid, Cordoba, Murcia and Palma de Mallorca. Among the 20 towns with the most swimming pools is another Malaga town: Alhaurín de la Torre, with 5,194.

Still, the most accurate picture of the density of swimming pools in any given location is, once again, the one that relates their number to the number of inhabitants. So, in Malaga province, although Marbella is the town with the most swimming pools in absolute terms, it does not occupy top spot in relative terms when we take into account its demographics.

In Marbella there is one swimming pool for every 14 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the other municipalities in Malaga that stand out for their absolute number of swimming pools present disparate relative figures in relation to their population. The town with the highest density of swimming pools is Alhaurín de la Torre, with one for every 8.5 inhabitants: nearly 5,200 for its just over 44,000 residents. Meanwhile, in Mijas, there are 10.6 residents per pool (8,770 units for its 93,302 inhabitants). Finally, Malaga city, which appears much lower in the ranking, has 90 residents per pool (6,549 for its more than 591,000 inhabitants). Only two municipalities in the province have a lower density of swimming pools in relation to their demographics: Alfarnate (209.2 inhabitants per pool, given that there are only five pools for its slightly more than 1,000 inhabitants) and Pujerra (96 inhabitants per pool, given that there are only 3 for its 290 inhabitants).

While Alhaurín de la Torre is the municipality with the greatest number of swimming pools in relative terms, there are 16 other towns in Malaga with more pools per capita. Thus, the residents with the most places to cool off are those in Arenas, with just 2.6 inhabitants per pool (there are 472 for 1,259 citizens). Next come those of Alcaucín (3.1 inhabitants per pool, with 856 for its 2,653 residents). Meanwhile, in Frigiliana, Viñuela, Árchez, Sayalonga, Canillas de Albaida and Cómpeta, the number of inhabitants per pool is less than four.

Among these 15 or 16 municipalities with the highest density of swimming pools, only one has a significant population of around 10,000 inhabitants: Benahavís, which has one pool for every 4.16 inhabitants (2,181 pools for 9,077 inhabitants).

Guaro, Alhaurín el Grande, Monda, Casarabonela, Ojén, Carratraca and Coín also have fewer than ten residents per pool.