The highest figure for the increase of population during the reign of Charles V is the untrustworthy one of Habler, who believes the number of inhabitants to have doubled.

This belief is founded on the conviction that the wealth of the kingdom doubled in that time.

But though population tends to increase with wealth, it certainly does not increase in the same proportion as wealth, so that, considering this fact and also that the increase in wealth as shown by the doubling of income from royal domains was in part merely apparent, due to the falling value of money, we may dismiss Habler's figure as too high.
And yet there is good evidence for the belief that there was a considerable increment.

The cities especially gained with the new stimulus to {457} commerce and industry.

In 1525 Toledo employed 10,000 workers in silk, who had increased fivefold by 1550.
Unfortunately for accuracy these figures are merely contemporary guesses, but they certainly indicate a large growth in the population of Toledo, and similar figures are given for Seville, Burgos and other manufacturing and trading centers.