vonLilith Grull,Ada Homolova,Frida Thurm
Europe’s overall population has grown over recent decades – yet half of all cities and municipalities have lost residents. This is the finding of an analysis by CORRECTIV.Europe based onnew data from the European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Our map shows where populations have grown (in green) and declined (in red) between 1961 and 2024.
It covers around 100,000 cities and municipalities throughout the EU, Britain, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Because municipal boundaries frequently change, historical data have often been imprecise. Using a new method, however, the JRC has for the first time calculated population trends over a 63-year period based on modern municipal boundaries.
The data reveal two major trends. The first is rural depopulation, as seen here in Spain. Across the 32 countries analysed, one in five rural municipalities lost more than half its population between 1961 and 2024.
Eight of the ten fastest-growing municipalities in Europe during this period are suburbs of Madrid.
By contrast, Villarroya, a village in Spain’s La Rioja region, has lost around 98 per cent of its population.
Populations of many municipalities in Spain’s interior have declined dramatically – a phenomenon known as “empty Spain”.
Greece shows a similar pattern, with large numbers of people leaving rural areas. Since 1961, 84 per cent of Greek municipalities have experienced population decline.
Population growth has been concentrated almost entirely in Athens and Thessaloniki.
A comparable trend emerges for Germany.