On the factors of rural diversity differentiation and the options of its classification: methodological essay in the province of Malaga

The objective of this work is to elaborate a proposal to measure the diversity of the rural environment. Due to the limitations of simple indicators, the technique of multi-variant analysis is used. As a first experience, the proposed procedure is applied to the rural area of the province of Malaga. Indicator classification by main components has identified three factors as new variables that explain rural diversity: "productive transformation", “good demographic status " and " local dynamism ". Based on this analysis, two typologies have been derived: a statistical one (cluster analysis) and a direct one. Both of them have allowed to classify the territory into eight rurality levels. It is concluded that both typologies correctly describe the basic differences of the rural environment in the province, due to the relevance and appropriateness of the aforementioned factors.