As of 1 January 2020, Spain has about 47.3 million inhabitants. As is the case in many Western countries, the average age of the population is rising. However, age groups and populations are unevenly distributed across Spain.
Nearly 81 percent of Spaniards now live in urban areas, a figure that grows by nearly a third of a percent annually.
Spain’s urbanization trend shows no signs of slowing down. Young people – and more often women than men – are abandoning the countryside and relocating to urban areas. Among the key incentives driving this trend are access to education and a more diverse job market.
With more young people moving to urban areas, the average age of rural populations is increasing. Towns and even small cities are losing younger people to major cities and large urban centers.
A lack of public investments in rural areas, poor and/or decaying infrastructure and the draw of cities have made the “countryside exodus” even more pronounced. The urbanization trend is so severe, that it has given rise to the term “Empty Spain” to describe large tracts of the Spanish countryside.
Spain’s National Bureau of Statistics, INE, has put together a telling overview of population density by province. In maps and figures it shows a Spain on the move from rural to urban:
For further information on population trends in Spain visit: Population figures.
For more information go to our post Municipalities and population in Spain where you will see that a majority of the municipalities have very few inhabitants.
Although conditions may vary greatly among communities, INE’s illustration provides a general idea of where to expect higher (or lower) real estate prices.
The Find Your Spain team,
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