Rural development and depopulation in Galicia (Spain): the future ahead

Abstract

Based on the author’s research and direct experience in the last decades, the article discusses the evolution of rural areas in the Spanish region of Galicia. Large parts of rural Galicia are losing population, which poses a major obstacle to development in the future. There are demographic factors at play – aging, depopulation, return migration, foreign immigration, and the presence of new rural dwellers. There also other relevant factors – economic (tertiarization, globalization), territorial (infrastructures and small administrative agencies), and cultural and educational (new consumption patterns, new technologies, educational levels). The major underlying cause of future scenarios is the hegemony of market mechanisms in the decisionmaking process of social agents.