Population: distribution, dynamics and migratory movements
Domain 5 examines size, structure and spatial distribution, and the migration that produced them - a domain in which Castilla y León is a European extreme case.
Distribution
- Around 2.4 million inhabitants, a density near 25 hab/km², against roughly 95 in Spain and 110 in the EU. Soria is the least dense Spanish province (about 8–9 hab/km²); Valladolid is the densest in the region.
- Population concentrates in the provincial capitals and along the Duero and Ebro corridors; municipalities under 1 000 inhabitants hold a small and shrinking share.
Dynamics
- Natural growth has been negative for decades: crude birth rate around 6–7 ‰, death rate around 11–12 ‰, total fertility near 1.1, life expectancy about 84 years and an ageing index above 150 and rising, with over-65s exceeding a quarter of the total.
- Migration history: emigration in the 1950s–70s to Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Western Europe; later return migration and retirement inflows; since the 2000s modest international immigration (Romanian, Moroccan, Bulgarian, Colombian), concentrated in agriculture, food processing, care and construction.
- Consequences: regressive pyramids, service closures in rural areas, the "empty Spain" debate, and a ring of growth around the capitals.
Worked example
Two pyramids: A has a broad base and a narrow top; B has a narrow base, a bulge at 45–59 and a heavy top. For B, with 470 000 people aged 65+ and 235 000 aged 0–14, the ageing index is (470 000 / 235 000) × 100 = 200 %, read as two elderly people per child. The bulge corresponds to the 1960s–70s baby boom, the narrow base to the post-1980 fertility fall - a regressive, post-transitional structure consistent with Castilla y León.
Traps
- Applying Spain's average density to the region.
- Confusing natural growth with total growth.
- Mixing the padrón (annual municipal register) with the censo (decennial count).
- Claiming rural areas are recovering because the region attracts immigrants.
- Forgetting that capitals concentrate both young adults and foreign-born residents.