Resumen Economic and demographic growth in Colombia has been dominated by the largest cities. This has resulted in the common belief that Colombia is mainly an urban country. The aim of this paper is to show how economic and demographic growth has evolved, especially in terms of population density, since the mid-eighties. Using Markov transition chains and their spatial counterpart, we show that since the mid-eighties, municipalities have experienced a highly persistent pattern in which the main cities have maintained their position as the most densely populated. In contrast, municipalities that exhibited low levels of population density have remained relatively stagnant. © 2015, Universidad Externado de Colombia. All rights reserved.
Área temática R10 - Economía regional general: Generalidades R11 - Actividad económica regional: crecimiento, desarrollo, ambiente y cambios R12 - Distribución espacial y dimensional de la actividad económica regional