A/HRC/44/40/Add.2 E. Rural poverty 75. Just under one fifth of the population live in rural areas, 113 where the real average income per capita fell 13.5 per cent between 2009 and 2018. 114 Individuals experiencing poverty in “empty Spain” (la España vaciada) face unique challenges and a very high risk of poverty or social exclusion (31 per cent).115 Rural areas are experiencing depopulation and acute ageing. Fourteen provinces are heavily affected by “demographic decline,” with more than 25 per cent of their population aged 65 or older. 116 76. People in rural areas stressed the benefits of rural living, including proximity to nature, but also described isolation, exclusion and poverty. A group in Extremadura explained that they experienced days-long power cuts, were at times unable to visit a doctor because of a lack of public transportation or money to pay for a taxi and felt that their votes did not matter to the central Government. In an area in Galicia with no specialist health care, day care or secondary education, a woman explained, “My daughter says she doesn’t see a future for herself here.” People also described high prices for the Internet, posing risks of digital exclusion for low-income and poor families, especially as the Government moves to digitize aspects of social support. 77. The Government should not leave this large group to suffer from market forces completely beyond their own control and should draw up a comprehensive strategy to deal with the problems that affect large and growing numbers of people. F. Persons with disabilities 78. Persons with disabilities face many forms of structural discrimination and disadvantage in Spain, including in relation to employment, income, education and housing. Roughly one third of persons with disabilities in Spain (31.1 per cent) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2018, compared to 24.1 per cent of those without disabilities.117 And the employment rate was just 25.8 per cent, well under half of that for those without a disability (65.9 per cent).118 79. A lack of accessible housing makes things even worse. Only 0.6 per cent of the 9.8 million residential buildings in Spain meet the criteria of universal accessibility for people with reduced mobility or disabilities. 119 According to one survey in 2019, 1.8 million people with reduced mobility required assistance to leave their home and 100,000 were never able to leave.120 Of children with disabilities, 16.5 per cent are receiving segregated education outside the mainstream education system. 121 80. Persons with disabilities across Spain spoke powerfully about the discrimination they face in the job market and in society, and the battles they must go through in order to enforce their rights. The Government should accord a higher priority to eliminating these many forms of discrimination. 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 The World Bank, “Rural population (% of total population) – Spain” (2019), available from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS?locations=ES. European Anti-Poverty Network, “Poverty watch Spain 2019”, pp. 23–24. Eurostat, “Living conditions in Europe – poverty and social exclusion”, available from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Living_conditions_in_Europe__poverty_and_social_exclusion. European Commission, Country Report Spain 2019, p. 70. Eurostat, “Europe 2020 indicator of at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion AROPE by level of activity limitation 2018 2.png”. National Institute of Statistics, “Employment of persons with disabilities (EPD)” (December 2019), p. 1, available from www.ine.es/en/prensa/epd_2018_en.pdf. Fundación Mutua de Propietarios, La Accesibilidad de las Viviendas en España (March 2018). Confederación Española de Personas con Discapacidad Física y Orgánica, “1,8 millones de personas con movilidad reducida dependen de la ayuda de terceros para salir de su casa y 100.000 no salen nunca,” 12 June 2019. Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional, Las Cifras de la Educación en España. Curso 2016–2017 (Edición 2019), main results, p. 11. 17