How many people live in Phuket?

On the occasion of an argument between the state and the province, Phuket governor Niran Kalayanamitr, released an information which much suspected already, but had never been officially formulated regarding the number of inhabitants in Phuket.

Indeed, he complained that Phuket had received unusually low allocations in the past because the government had based the budget on the island's registered population, which stood at only 300,000 people.
Actually, according to Mr. Kalayanamitr, up to a million people live in Phuket and around six million people visit the island annually.