Its economy is based mainly on fishing, in particular, albacore ("bonito del norte") and hake are delivered daily to the rest of Spain.

Due to the high demand for personnel to work at sea, Burela is a multicultural town which has many residents from Cape Verde and has recently had an influx of immigrants from Peru, Indonesia, and other places.

The inhabitants of these forts left one of the emblems of the city, a torque, a piece of Iron Age culture, which is currently in the Provincial Museum of Lugo and is also part of the coat of arms of Burela.

This small settlement gave rise to a rural population that became a parish under the protection of Mary and belongs to the Diocese of Saint Martin of Mondoñedo.

The population of the town had a large increase in the late 1970s and 80s with the arrival of families from other areas of the peninsula, especially Asturias and Castile and León, due to the settlement of the public company Alúmina Alumino in San Cibrao (now privatized as Alcoa).