Why has the cost of living gone up more in Malaga province than anywhere else in Spain?

Inflation on the Costa del Sol remains at 3%, according to the latest figures, although the nationwide average has fallen to 2.2%

Cristina Vallejo

Malaga

Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 16:31 | Updated 16:36h.

Once again Malaga province leads the increase in Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Spain. Inflation in the province is greater than anywhere else in Spain. The cost of living on the Costa del Sol is rising at the fastest rate in the country. Three sentences to say the same thing: prices have gone up more in Malaga over the last year than in the rest of the country.

In Malaga the CPI rose by 3% in a year, according to data from March 2024 and March 2025, released on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This makes it the province with the greatest increase for the third consecutive month. Malaga is followed by Álava, the Balearic Islands, Castellón and Guipúzcoa, all four with rises of 2.8%. In Andalucía, the province with the next highest inflation rate is Cadiz, but it is still far behind Malaga with 2.3%.

Even so inflation in Malaga did go down by a tenth of a percentage point compared with the previous month, when it stood at 3.1%, and has fallen by seven tenths compared to February, when prices increased at a rate of 3.7%.

While inflation slightly eased in Malaga between March and April, prices rose by 2.2% in the country as a whole. There are a good handful of provinces at national level where inflation was already below 2% last month, such as Murcia and Ciudad Real, tied at 1.5%; the Andalusian provinces of Almeria and Huelva, with 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively; as well as Cordoba (1.9%).

The reason for the excessive inflation in Malaga province cannot be found in a shopping basket. Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 1.3% here compared to the levels of a year earlier. This figure proves Malaga had the tenth lowest rise in grocery prices out of all 50 provinces in Spain. It also rose below the national average, which stood at 2%. And Malaga is far from the province that recorded the highest rise in this product group, Vizcaya (3.9%).

So, where does the responsibility lie for Malaga registering the highest price rises in Spain? From INE's data, the product with the greatest price difference provincially compared to nationally is water supply and related services. In the province of Malaga the rate for these services has risen by 14.5% in the year-on-year rate, compared to 3.4% across the country.

In second place is 'social protection' - which involves childcare services, residences for the elderly and the disabled, and at-home carers. The cost of this group of services has registered an increase of 13.7% in the province, compared to 4.3% nationally.

Next comes recreational, sporting and cultural services, including the cost of going to watch a competition; attend the cinema, theatre or concert halls; and museum or zoo visits. In the province of Malaga, this whole section was 5.5% more expensive in April than a year earlier, while on average in Spain the rise was limited to 0.9%.

4.5% represents the rise in clothing prices in Malaga in the last year

In Spain, on the other hand, clothing has increased 0.9%.

A similar difference can be found with clothing: in Spain the year-on-year increase is 0.9%, compared to the 4.5% increase recorded in Malaga.

Additionally, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 6.1% in the country, while in Malaga the rise is at 9.1%.

Malaga's secondary school students face the same struggle, because the cost of secondary education has risen by 6.5% here compared to 3.5% nationally.

In the province, home maintenance; hospital services; tools and equipment for home and garden; rent; catering; alcoholic beverages; and personal care products (to name just a few) are also on the rise.

What is cheaper in Malaga than it is across the country?

Package holidays in Malaga have become equally expensive compared to the country as a whole (up 13.6% from one year to the next).

And then there are other goods and services that have fallen, which in 2025 are cheaper than last year, such as home textiles (in Malaga they have fallen by 3% and in Spain, by 0.5%) or audiovisual and photographic equipment, which at provincial level have fallen by 7.8% in price and at national level, by 5.8%.

Finally, although the price of accommodation (hotels) increased in Malaga (8.9%), it has risen at a slower rate than in the country as a whole (10.1%).

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Why has the cost of living gone up more in Malaga province than anywhere else in Spain?