comarcas of Andalusia had no formal recognition, but, in practice, they still had informal recognition as geographic, cultural, historical, or in some cases administrative entities. The 2007 Statute of Autonomy echoes this practice, and mentions comarcas in Article 97 of Title III, which defines the significance of comarcas and establishes a basis for formal recognition in future legislation. The current statutory entity that most closely resembles a comarca is the mancomunidad, a freely chosen, bottom-up association of municipalities intended as an instrument of socioeconomic development and coordination between municipal governments in specific areas. Municipalities and local entities Beyond the level of provinces, Andalusia is further divided into 774 municipalities (municipios). The municipalities of Andalusia are regulated by Title III of the Statute of Autonomy, Articles 91–95, which establishes the municipality as the basic territorial entity of Andalusia, each of which has legal personhood and autonomy in many aspects of its internal affairs. At the municipal level, representation, government and administration is performed by the ayuntamiento (municipal government), which has competency for urban planning, community social services, supply and treatment of water, collection and treatment of waste, and promotion of tourism, culture, and sports, among other matters established by law. Among the more important Andalusian cities besides the provincial capitals are: El Ejido, Níjar and Roquetas de Mar (Almería) La Línea de la Concepción, Algeciras, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, San Fernando, Chiclana de la Frontera, Puerto Real, Arcos de la Frontera, Jerez and El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) Lucena, Pozoblanco, Montilla and Puente Genil (Córdoba) Almuñécar, Guadix, Loja and Motril (Granada) Linares, Andújar, Úbeda and Baeza (Jaén) Marbella, Mijas, Vélez-Málaga, Fuengirola, Torremolinos, Estepona, Benalmádena, Antequera, Rincón de la Victoria and Ronda (Málaga) Utrera, Dos Hermanas, Alcalá de Guadaíra, Osuna, Mairena del Aljarafe, Écija and Lebrija (Sevilla) In conformity with the intent to devolve control as locally as possible, in many cases, separate nuclei of population within municipal borders each administer their own interests. These are variously known as pedanías ("hamlets"), villas ("villages"), aldeas (also usually rendered as "villages"), or other similar names. Main cities Demographics Andalusia ranks first by population among the 17 autonomous communities of Spain. The estimated population at the beginning of 2009 was 8,285,692. The population is concentrated, above all, in the provincial capitals and along the coasts, so that the level of urbanization is quite high; half the population is concentrated in the 28 cities of more