Publication: Declive demográfico y cambio económico en las áreas de montaña españolas, 1860-2000
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2005
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Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Laureano Figuerola: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales
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Abstract
Este trabajo analiza el declive demográfico experimentado por las 84 principales comarcas de montaña españolas, que representan más del 20 por cien del territorio nacional y que, en torno a 1860, concentraban el 15 por cien de la población del país. La despoblación de la montaña española fue más tardía que la de las montañas de los países europeos más desarrollados, si bien, una vez arrancada, fue muy intensa en perspectiva comparada. La despoblación se generalizó durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX como consecuencia de importantes carencias en la calidad de vida de las montañas, carencias que a su vez estaban vinculadas al escaso grado de diversificación de su economía y a las dificultades encontradas por la población a la hora de acceder a equipamientos y servicios básicos. La despoblación actuó además como mecanismo de selección económica, en la medida en que contribuyó a la desaparición de la economía campesina tradicional y a la emergencia «por defecto» de formas más diversificadas.
This paper analyses the demographic decline experienced by Spain’s 84 main mountainous districts, which cover more than 20 per cent of the national surface and had 15 per cent of the country’s total population in 1860. In Spain, mountain depopulation took place later than in other, more advanced European countries. However, once it started, the process was very intense in comparative perspective. Depopulation became a general phenomenon during the second half of the twentieth century as a consequence of significant shortcomings in rural welfare – these shortcomings were related in turn to low degrees of economic diversification and high levels of penalty on the access to basic equipment and services. Furthermore, depopulation acted as a mechanism for economic selection because it contributed to the disappearance of the traditional peasant economy and the «default» emergence of more diversified patterns.
This paper analyses the demographic decline experienced by Spain’s 84 main mountainous districts, which cover more than 20 per cent of the national surface and had 15 per cent of the country’s total population in 1860. In Spain, mountain depopulation took place later than in other, more advanced European countries. However, once it started, the process was very intense in comparative perspective. Depopulation became a general phenomenon during the second half of the twentieth century as a consequence of significant shortcomings in rural welfare – these shortcomings were related in turn to low degrees of economic diversification and high levels of penalty on the access to basic equipment and services. Furthermore, depopulation acted as a mechanism for economic selection because it contributed to the disappearance of the traditional peasant economy and the «default» emergence of more diversified patterns.
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Despoblación rural, Economía de montaña, Niveles de vida rurales, Cambio estructural, España, Rural depopulation, Mountain economy, Rural living standards, Structural change, Spain
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Revista de Historia Económica Año XXIII invierno 2005 n. 3 pp. 515-540