Signal Municipalities under 10,000 residents gained 150,000 people between 2019 and 2022

Summary

The report treats COVID-19 as the moment that broke the downward trend in Spain's rural population. It attributes a partial return to villages to the rise of remote work, advancing digitalisation and a desire for contact with nature after months of lockdown. As a result, municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants gained 150,000 residents between 2019 and 2022, a cumulative rise of 1.6 percent that beat the national average. This contrasts with an urbanisation process that left 80 percent of Spaniards in cities by 2024 and with heavy rural losses during the 2010s. Rural population kept growing after the pandemic through 2024, led mainly by municipalities close to large metropolitan areas. The report cites transport links, proximity to services and lower housing costs as the drivers.