L'evolució demogràfica d'una comarca de muntanya a Catalunya: el Ripollès (segles XVII-XIX) a través dels registres parroquials

Abstract

The demographic evolution of a mountain region of the Pyrenees Catalan is analysed through the use of the series of baptisms and deaths of a significant number of parishes. This region was characterized by an important iron production and transformation industry and a proto-industrial textile activity. Births grew much more in the seventeenth century than in the eighteenth century. In this century they grew much less than what the official counts said. In the nineteenth century births stagnated and deaths increased, although the birth rate was not reduced as in other parts of Catalonia. The result was the expulsion of population to other areas of Catalonia both in the eighteenth century and in the nineteenth century. The article reconsiders the demographic growth that was supposed for this mountain region.