Consideraciones estadísticas y sociológicas dirigidas al desarrollo de la comarca de Sayago (Zamora, España)

Abstract

Rural depopulation has become a problem that affects society as a whole through its political, economic and environmental impact. Despite the efforts made by institutions to reverse this process, the results obtained have not been as expected and the loss of population continues to be a constant. Therefore, the objective of this research would be to identify the existence of other underlying factors within the rural environment that could be taken into consideration by public administrations in their local development strategy, proposing the importance of the feeling of rurality as a working hypothesis. For this purpose, a statistical study has been carried out based on the assessment made by the mayors of the Sayago region (Zamora), in order to identify the main reasons that have led to depopulation and on the possible solutions to promote the development of the region. The results obtained indicate that although the policies applied are generally considered to be positive, they should be redirected towards strengthening those aspects considered being distinctively rural. In this sense, the importance of the feeling of being rooted in a community has been detected as a key element for the settlement of the population.