Is foreign immigration the solution to rural depopulation? The case of Catalonia (1996-2009)

Abstract

This paper analyses, from a demographic perspective, how foreign immigration has affected Catalan municipalities under 1000 inhabitants. After decades losing population, this group of villages is, despite its ongoing negative natural growth rate, recently regaining population due to immigration. Nevertheless, not all these municipalities have followed the same path. The local population register or Padrón has been used to build a typology which classifies these villages on the basis of their Spanish and foreign population growth between 1996 and 2009. Results show that, despite practically all of them received foreign immigrants, approximately half still lose population or have poor increases. Therefore, the international immigration boom has emphasized the spatial dichotomy between a few dynamic rural areas and the rest, which largely occupy inland Catalonia. Only tourist municipalities, mainly receiving foreign immigrants, and those located near urban centres, basically benefiting from Spanish nationality suburban flows, have been able to clearly put an end to depopulation.