EN
The area of Chile is populated very irregularly, which is caused to a big degree by the diversity of the natural environment. These irregularities are becoming more intense in consequence of the increasing internal migrations. In general, Chile is divided into four regions (borders run along the parallels): Northern, Central, Central-Southern and Southern. Since 1930 the contribution of the Central region inhabited by 71 % of the population on 14% of the whole area has been increasing constantly. The great majority of migrations proceed to the capital province Santiago and the neighbouring province Valparaiso. The most of emigrants come from the Central-Southern region, whosebcontribution in the population of the country is decreasing constantly. In the Northern region, only the very northern province Tarapaca with the duty-free zone of Arica has a favourable balance of migration, the other regions are becoming depopulated. The sparsely populated Southern region has a favourable balance of migration, high in relative numbers and relatively low in absolute numbers. The majority of migrants proceed to the big cities, whereas the rural areas are becoming depopulated. Recently, the policy of settlement of the sparsely populated areas, specially in the south of the country, has been carrierd on.