Family Composition and Out-Migrant Family Members in Depopulated Villages in the Mountains in Fukuoka, Japan and Spain : The Study of Small Settlements in the Mountains for the Design of Life Environmental Sphere in the Age of Population Decrease

Total population in Japan starts declining for the first time in its history. It further aggravates rural depopulation that has already been problematic for a few decades. Many settlements in mountainous areas have kept losing their residents down to the point that the communities barely function as the loci of living activities. This study seeks to obtain information and clues to design a new living environmental sphere by surveying depopulated villages in the mountains in Japan and in Spain. Small villages to be surveyed were determined with 3 criteria, the high percentage of older population (older than 64 years old), the high rate of depopulation in the last 25 years, and the remoteness of the location (about 20 km from the nearest local centers, such as the office of municipal government). Two villages with similar conditions were selected, one in Fukuoka, Japan, and another in Aragon, Spain, and were surveyed for basic household information and out-migrated family members. Results show that the age composition of the two villages indicates similar degrees of aging, but the two differ in the behavior of out-migrated family members. Those associated with the Spanish village more frequently return and stay in the village. Moreover, the Spanish village has an outside group of people who own houses in the village as second houses. These people fill the village during summer vacation season that effectively increase village population manyfolds