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The population of small and rural municipalities in Spain has grown by almost 10% on average in the last 25 years

2022-02-09T16:16:59.930Z


Residents in coastal towns or close to large cities increase, while inland areas lose them, according to a study


A man walks down a deserted street in Alaraz, one of the unpopulated towns in Salamanca. CARLOS ROSILLO

Depopulation is a problem that has increased in recent years, but it has occurred unevenly.

In Spain, small and rural municipalities have grown by an average of 9.6% in the last 25 years, according to a study published this Wednesday by the Esade analysis center.

The determining factor has not been so much the size as the location of the towns.

While the rural municipalities of communities such as Madrid (45%), Murcia (34%), Catalonia (31%), Valencia (19.3%) and Navarra (10%) have grown significantly in this period;

those of Asturias (-26.9%), Castilla y León (-19.7%), Galicia (-16.9%), Extremadura (-9.6) and Castilla-La Mancha (-2%) have got the worst of it.

In the archipelagos —the Canary Islands 55% and the Balearic Islands 41%— growth has been much higher than the national average.

This inequality, according to the report, is explained by the rise of metropolitan areas around the central municipalities of cities.

The location of companies around large cities attracts population and work, creating new areas of activity that are no longer in the "administrative municipalities" but in their surroundings.

However, the heterogeneity in depopulation also occurs within the autonomies themselves —and provinces— which, in general terms, lose inhabitants.

It is not just about municipalities adjoining large capitals such as Madrid, where growth of up to 50% is seen in provinces such as Guadalajara, Toledo and Ávila.

In Castilla y León, most of the towns lose between 25% and 50% of their citizens, but the municipalities adjoining provincial capitals also gain population.

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The rural Spain that does not empty

The pandemic stopped the bleeding in municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, but the study attributes this to a decrease in exits rather than an increase in entries.

Compared to 2019, in 2020 there were 15% fewer trips.

Although there were movements from Madrid or Barcelona to towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants.

For example, the province of Ávila received almost 1,000 more people from Madrid than in the previous year, and that of Segovia, 800.

On the Mediterranean coast, the municipalities that are losing population are also those in the interior, while the coastal ones are growing, sometimes by more than 30%.

It is a pattern that is also observed in Andalusia.

Inland towns are growing less than those near the sea, although the surroundings of the Guadalquivir, a "traditional economic artery", have avoided losing population.

On the Cantabrian coast, the differences are greater.

Although the same pattern of loss is observed in most of the municipalities of Galicia and Asturias, in Cantabria the growth in coastal areas is notable, and the Basque Country is the great exception: the increase in population extends to all municipalities, both inland and near the sea.

Connect the peripheries with each other, not with the center

One of the proposals that focuses the fight against depopulation is the improvement in the communication and transport network.

However, the report warns of possible unforeseen consequences if that investment is not well measured.

Connecting the periphery with the center can cause the former to be emptied for the benefit of the latter.

This would further increase inequalities between territories, as has already been observed in other places such as the Netherlands or China.

One way to avoid this hollowing out, the authors maintain, would be to unite the peripheral regions with each other, so that "virtuous circles of economic activity" are generated.

Among the other initiatives to alleviate the rural exodus, they also propose decentralizing institutions, giving tax incentives and implementing policies to attract immigration,

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-02-09

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