¿Ha sido la pandemia de COVID-19 un motor de cambio demográfico en las áreas rurales de España?

(Artículo de monográfico)

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 implied a reversal of the dominant migratory trends in Spain's rural areas. In the years of the pandemic, rural areas were characterised by the retention of local residents and the arrival of immigrants from the cities. These changes augured a future demographic renaissance in these areas. However, the heterogeneity that characterises the Spanish countryside suggests that the impact of COVID-19 may have had a diverse demographic response. The aim of this article is to analyse the effects of the pandemic on rural demography. Using microdata from the Natural Movement, the Residential Variation Statistics and the Continuous Register for the period 2016-2021, we have created different categories of demographic behaviour, collecting the possible combinations of growth according to their components and subsequently applying a typology of municipalities developed by Goerlich. The results show an increase in municipalities with positive growth during the pandemic period due to the increase in internal immigrants. However, a detailed territorial analysis reveals a conjunctural demographic response to the pandemic and qualifies the dominant impression that rural areas benefited in a similar way from the outflows from urban centres.