The process of depopulation in the counties (comarques) of La Cerdanya and Alt Urgell

Abstract

The catalan mountain counties are experiencing a steady decrase of popdation since the middle of last century, and the current situation is characterised by a deep demographical crisis. This article explains the dynamics of population in the Catalan Pyrenees counties of La Cerdanya and Alt Urgell, and particularly the abandoned villages with as an extreme situation of a global process. There is an attempt to explain the causes of the abandonment of villages with a special consideration of the physical environment as an active and passive agent of depopulation.