Visualizing the rural population growth in Spain during 2020 triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Since the first months of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has driven social distancing measures in many countries, which have made it potentially more attractive to reside in less populated areas. This paper visualizes whether the registered populations in municipalities with fewer than 2000 inhabitants in Spanish regions have changed during 2020 in a different way than previous years. The per cent variation of the rural population is measured, as well as the proportion of the rural population over the total population, in two periods: January 2000–January 2020 and during 2020. The results show an increase in the rural population in 13 of the 17 Spanish regions, and an increase in the proportion in 14 regions during 2020, in contrast to the declining trends prevailing in previous years.