Country profile on rural characteristics Spain - RuDI

The recent Law for Sustainable Development in the Rural Environment (Law 45/2007issued in December 2007) aimed at providing the legislative framework to theestablishment of a national rural policy complementing the interventions co-funded bythe EU, includes some new definitions which are reported below 1 :- Rural environment (medio rural): the geographic space defined by the competentadministration and formed by the aggregation of municipalities or minor localentities with less than 30000 inhabitants and a density lower than 100inhabitants per km 2 .- Rural area (zona rural): the target area of the measures of the Sustainable RuralDevelopment Programme, refers to a region (comarca) or a part of it with a subprovincialextension, as qualified by the competent Autonomous Community(Comunidad Autónoma).- Small size rural municipality (municipio rural de pequeño tamaño): a settlementwith less than 5000 inhabitants integrated in the rural environment.The classification of rural areas is based on population density, the economic structure,the level of income, the geographic position and the relation rural-urban. On the basis ofthese criteria, the following typology of rural areas is proposed:a) rural areas to be re-vitalised are characterised by scarce population density,significant agricultural activity, low level of income and a significant geographicisolation or difficulties of territorial structuring;b) intermediate rural areas are characterised by low or medium population density, adiversified economic structure encompassing activities in the primary, secondaryand tertiary sectors, low or medium level of income and a geographic positiondistant from the area of direct influence of big urban areas;c) peri-urban rural areas are characterised by increasing population, an economicstructure with a predominant weight of the tertiary sector, medium or high levelof income and situated in the proximity of urban areas or densely populatedareas.The Law specifies that the Council for Rural Environment (Consejo para el Medio Rural)will adopt common criteria for the classification of rural areas.1 It is worth remarking that this law has not yet been made operational by regulations and norms, also becauseof some contrasts between Autonomous Communities and the government concerning the sharing ofcompetences at the central and regional level.11