CARACTERIZACIÓN DE LAS ÁREAS RURALES ESPAÑOLAS LEADER Y PRODER PARA LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN SISTEMA DE INDICADORES DE SOSTENIBILIDAD

Abstract

During the development of the Project for the construction of an indicator system in eight Spanish Leader and Proder rural areas (Indi-Rural) has shown differences between municipalities that conform them, reason why is necessary to establish "small areas", excluding municipalities less “extensively rural and mountainous". A characterization of the eight areas has been made, identifying those municipalities that differ significantly from the average values of the statistics and developed indicators, taking like exclusion indicators: • High level of urbanization and concentration of population. • Productive activities of high impact (agricultural, industrial…ones). • Other differences with respect to the rest of municipalities in the area. Also the “County Head towns” have been identified, which are characterized by some of the following characteristics: • Concentration of services. • Bigger degree of communication with the rest of the province. • Influence and/or political weight. • Higher population density. The application of indicators in the new "small rural areas" allows us to obtain more homogeneous results. In the most of the cases, the county head town is the less “extensive rural and mountainous". Keywords: Indicators, Sustainability, Leader and Proder Rural Areas