Rural Spain is characterised by its low population density. However, the arrival of foreign citizens has slowed down its depopulation following the setback represented by the 2008 crisis. As happened at the beginning of this century, since 2018 there has been a degree of demographic recovery of rural areas in Spanish municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. Even so, the number of deaths still exceeds the number of births. The trends of migratory flows show an increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan rural environment in which foreign mothers and the reunification of families with children contribute significantly to generational renewal. 

The settlement patterns of the foreign population paint a complex and changing picture. The territorial presence of foreign population follows a process of continuous spreading from rural locations in the Mediterranean coastal regions associated with intensive farming, construction, the hospitality industry and caregiving services, to more depopulated areas inland. The sequence of maps shows a clear shift from east to west and progressive settlement of the immigrant population in more depopulated areas as a result of their incorporation into the care economy, in a setting of pronounced ageing, and small trading and industry, in a context of low presence of active population. 

The maps show how, from 2001 to 2019, in spite of the decade of crisis, the percentage of the rural population born abroad increased significantly. This was the case in most Spanish provinces, except some areas of western Spain. 

At present, the foreign population carries a notable weight in rural areas: in addition to the large numbers of foreign retirees in the Balearic Islands, Alacant and Almería, more than a tenth of the rural population of the northeast quadrant – Catalonia, Aragon, and the north of Castile-La Mancha – was born outside Spain. This spread is interesting in that it suggests that there are no clearly defined poles or centres of attraction in the rural hinterland, but rather that the influx of foreign population is associated with movements towards new spaces and labour markets in the vicinity of previous ones. Rural areas are populated to some extent as a result of overcrowding and proximity. 
 

Migratory flows are closely related to economic dynamics. Thus, Spain’s accession to the European Union in 1986 and the arrival of European funds had notable effects on the rural world. An export-oriented agricultural model, the building boom and an expanding tourist industry, together with the demand for care workers, brought a sharp rise in for¬eign population moving to rural municipalities. 

However, the recession of 2008 left its mark, causing a significant depopulation of rural areas. Young people moved away, the arrival of immigrants fell, and family reunification was reduced. Rural settlement was debilitated, to a large extent, by the foreign population moving to urban environments or their countries of origin. 

Graph 2 shows the evolution of migration in rural areas from 1990 to 2018.
Immigration increased as of the late 1990s and grew very significantly in the early years of this century. A clear decrease can be seen, caused by the crisis of 2008, together with an upturn after the low point reached in 2015. 

Despite the low fertility rates and the high mortality in the elderly rural population, 2017 marked a tipping point, insofar as migratory balances became positive again in that year. The foreign population was the prime factor in this demographic recovery. Natives played a secondary role. 
 

Another notable aspect of this phenomenon is that movements open up to new destinations and new labour markets. The areas that receive population are not only those neighbouring the Mediterranean coastal regions; they extend to the more depopulated hinterland. 

In short, the foreign population is the chief antidote to ageing and is essential for the preservation of activity in rural Spain. One fact substantiates this: in the first decade of the 21st century, two thirds of the migratory movement into rural areas was of foreign population. 

The arrival of foreign population in rural municipalities is gradually changing their demographic makeup. Immigrants come at childbearing ages, and these families often arrive with young children or with the intention to apply for family reunification. 

Rural mothers of foreign origin have more children than those born in Spain. The fertility of the former is over 1.5 children per woman, whereas the latter group has between 1.2 and 1.3 children per woman. Another feature that stands out is that of the children and preteens who arrive in rural areas accompanying their families or as a result of family reunification. In this way, births and reunifications of immigrants are a growing and determining phenomenon of the social landscape of the future in Spain’s rural areas. In 2019, one out of every five children under the age of 13 in rural Spain was the child of a foreign-background mother. 

These figures show the importance of the contribution of the foreign population to the makeup of the new generations of rural inhabitants. On average, one out of every five rural inhabitants is foreign, and it is especially significant that this contribution is greatest in smaller municipalities, where depopulation and ageing have reduced birth rates drastically; in these municipalities, a quarter of minors come from a foreign background. Paradoxically, the smallest municipalities, those with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, offer as much diversity of origins to these generations as urban areas. 

Table 1 estimates the joint impact of childbearing plus immigration and reunification of children under the age of 13 in rural areas. If we take Spain as a whole, including urban areas, we find that 25% of children under 13 are of foreign origin. The highest figures are for urban are-as and municipalities with a population of under 1,000. In any event, around 20% of new generations in rural areas are of foreign parentage. 

Rural reality in Spain is undergoing a transformation due to the back-ground and characteristics of new residents. In 2019, almost 10% of the Spanish rural population was born abroad, and if we focus on the 20 to 39 age group – the group most likely to have children – the figure stands at around 16%. The geographical and cultural origin of these new settlers is varied, as can be seen in table 2, which shows the nationality of origin of the inhabitants of municipalities with a population under 10,000.

Moroccans and Romanians are the most numerous communities, although there is a great diversity of countries of origin. In the 20 to 39 age group, the European countries drop out of the top of the ranking. In the case of countries such as the UK and Germany, a large proportion of these rural settlers are retired people who decide to go and live in Spain. The table is intended to spotlight the diversity to be found in rural areas, in contrast with the perception that exists of an immobile, permanent and local rural population. 

The mid and long-term effects of this new population makeup are and will be substantial. Both culturally and sociologically. Rural inhabitants are few but diverse and cosmopolitan. They represent a social capital resource that will undoubtedly transform rural Spain. They constitute a group of people with diverse origins and cultures that must be listened to and taken fully into account in any public policy or private initiative for rural development. And also when it comes to rethinking and promoting social innovation, and educational and training strategies in these areas. 

The foreign population is still absent from the popular consciousness regarding the rural environment, but it is bound to gain importance, as even now it is a key element in the sustainability of rural Spain. 

At the time of writing, the world is immersed in a health crisis without precedent in recent memory, a crisis that is connected in time with the so-called Great Recession of 2008, the economic and social effects of which have been dramatic. In rural areas, the crisis of 2008 froze the impetus given by the influx of foreign population and its effect on rural revitalisation. A decade has had to pass before the demographic pulse rate could be seen to start to pick up.
 

With this precedent, it is probable that the pandemic of 2020 will entail a new slowdown in processes of settling and family reunification and will cause new losses of social capital. But it is also true that the health crisis has clearly shown the dependence of agricultural sectors on the influx of foreign workers. It seems clear, in any event, that the best remedy for coping with rural decline is to build welcoming communities, and the strength embodied today by the cosmopolitan nature of new rural generations constitutes a key element in the process of recovering the demographic, economic and social vitality of these areas. 

This text summarises and presents some of the findings of the project “Crisis and immigration in the rural environment in Castile and Leon: socio-territorial scenarios for the settling of immigrants and the social sustainability of rural areas” (CSO2015-67525-R, MINECO/ERDF). The project forms part of the Iso-Rural Network of Excellence (CSO2016-61728-REDT).