Comarcas of the Basque Country

The autonomous community of the Basque Country within Spain contains several comarcas or eskualdeak in the Basque language, referring to local districts, grouped into its three long-established provinces.

The Basque Government's statistics department Eustat has divided the districts using a 20-comarca model^[1] (seven in Biscay, seven in Gipuzkoa and six in Álava)^[2] in its reports relating to the local economy and demographic trends on a consistent basis since at least 1999:

List of comarcas

Comarca name			Province	Population (January 2020)^[3]
English	Spanish	Basque	Province	Population (January 2020)^[3]
Añana / Alava Valleys	Cuadrilla de Añana / Valles Alaveses^[4]	Añanako Koadrila / Arabako Haranak	Álava	6,159
Ayala / Cantabrian Alava	Cuadrilla de Ayala / Cantábrica Alavesa	Aiarako Koadrila / Kantauri Arabarra		34,704
Riojan Alava	Cuadrilla de Rioja Alavesa	Arabako Errioxako Eskualdea		11,624
Plain of Alava	Llanada Alavesa	Arabako Lautada		265,868
Alava Mountains	Montaña Alavesa	Arabako Mendialdea		3,023
Lands of Gorbea	Cuadrilla de la Estribaciones del Gorbea/ Cuadrilla de Zuia	Gorbeialdeko Kuadrilla/ Zuiako Eskualdea		8,831
Arratia-Nerbioi	Arratia-Nervión	Arratia-Nerbioi	Biscay	24,024
Lands of Busturia-Urdaibai/ Guernica-Bermeo	Guernica-Bermeo/ Busturialdea-Urdaibai^[5]	Gernika-Bermeo/ Busturialdea-Urdaibai		45,973
Lands of Durango	Duranguesado	Durangaldea		100,052
Enkarterri	Las Encartaciones	Enkartazioak		32,021
Greater Bilbao	Gran Bilbao	Bilbo Handia		863,090
Lea-Artibai/ Markina-Ondarroa	Lea Artibai/ Marquina-Ondárroa	Lea-Artibai/ Markina-Ondarroa		26,217
Lands of Mungia/ Plentzia-Mungia/ Lands of Uribe-Butroe	Mungialdea/ Plencia-Mungia/ Uribe-Butroe^[6]	Mungialdea/ Plentzia-Mungia/ Uribe-Butroe		57,667
Lower Bidasoa	Bajo Bidasoa	Bidasoa Behea	Gipuzkoa	77,192
Lower Deba	Bajo Deva	Debabarrena		55,870
Upper Deba	Alto Deva	Debagoiena		63,313
Lands of San Sebastián	Comarca de San Sebastián	Donostialdea		329,086
Goierri	Goyerri	Goierri		68,719
Lands of Tolosa	Zona de Tolosa	Tolosaldea		49,546
Urola Coast	Urola Costa	Urola Kosta		76,732

Alternative definitions

As the comarca boundaries are not defined in law, various other broadly similar combinations have been published depending on the date, range and purpose of the data collection.^[7] Examples include:

Biscay province: the conurbations on either side of the Estuary of Bilbao within the Greater Bilbao comarca, known as the Left Bank and the Right Bank, are sometimes counted separately both from one another and from the city of Bilbao itself.^[8] Less commonly, the Getxo area on the Right Bank and the adjacent suburban Txorierri valley are grouped in a Uribe-Kosta district along with those in Mungialdea (referred to by Eustat as Plentzia-Mungia,^[3] with the term Uribe-Bertoe also used), while the Left Bank and the Meatzaldea [eu], the area's former mining zone, is merged into the mainly rural western Enkarterri comarca^[9]^[5] which previously governed the districts as a larger merindad, as was the case for the Right Bank in the Uribe merindad. The Hego Uribe area south of Bilbao tends to remain grouped with the city when other adjustments are made, or is linked with Arratia-Nervión if counted as an outlying zone.

Gipuzkoa province: the southern portion of the Urola Kosta comarca (primarily Azpeitia and Azkoitia) has been listed separately as Urola Erdia [eu] (Mid-Urola).^[10] Similarly, the western part of Goierri (around Zumarraga) has been recorded as the separate Urola Garaia [eu] (Upper Urola) district.^[11] In the Donostialdea comarca (by far the most heavily populated, containing the city of San Sebastián and its satellite towns), the eastern part centred on Errenteria and Pasaia has been referred to as Oarsoaldea, and in some cases this has been combined with neighbouring Bidasoaldea, with the Oarsoaldea name even being adopted by some for this larger area. Less commonly, the name Buruntzaldea [eu] has been used to refer collectively to the cluster of towns south of San Sebastián (Lasarte-Oria, Hernani, Astigarraga, Andoain).^[12]

Álava province: the main deviation from the Eustat comarcas (known here as cuadrillas) is in the representation of the capital Vitoria-Gasteiz, which alternatively has its own district comprising its urban municipality alone. In this alignment the western part of the rump Llanada Alavesa comarca is assigned to Gorbeialdea.^[13]^[14] The territory of Treviño is entirely surrounded by Álava, but is an exclave of the Province of Burgos and does not figure in the Basque considerations (its future status is a matter of dispute between the administrations).

Population contrasts

As with the municipalities across Spain, the populations of each comarca vary widely; rural sectors of Álava cover only a few thousand residents each, while its capital Vitoria-Gasteiz (which is also a single municipality) is considered either to be in its own comarca or by far the most prominent component of the wider Llanada Alavesa, containing over 250,000 residents under either arrangement. In Gipuzkoa, the Donostialdea comarca (population 330,000) includes not only the provincial capital San Sebastián (municipality population 185,000) but many of the smaller towns surrounding the city, leading to two further subdivisions being created in some contexts to represent these communities in a more balanced way. The most striking contrast is in Biscay, where the capital city Bilbao (again a single municipality with approximately 350,000 residents) is just one part of the Greater Bilbao comarca which has 850,000 within its boundaries. Bilbao's eight city districts are comparable in population to four of the province's other more rural comarcas, despite in theory being two administrative levels below.

References

^ La actividad industrial registró caídas generalizadas en prácticamente todas las comarcas vascas en 2012 [Industrial activity registered generalized falls in practically all the Basque regions in 2012], Eustat, 19 May 2014 (in Spanish)
^ Cuatro comarcas de Gipuzkoa superan la media de población inmigrante de la CAV [Four regions of Gipuzkoa exceed the average immigrant population of the BAC], Noticias de Gipuzkoa, 2 February 2020 (in Spanish)
^ ^a ^b Population of the Basque Country by province, according to place of birth. 01/01/2020, Eustat; retrieved 28 March 2021
^ Valles Alaveses, Basque Country Tourism
^ ^a ^b Territorio de Comarcas [Comarcas Territory], Nirea (in Spanish)
^ Gobernanza sostenible | Búsqueda por Comarca [Sustainable governance | Search by Region], Provincial Council of Bizkaia - Diputación Foral de Bizkaia (in Spanish)
^ La crisis económica va por comarcas [The economic crisis goes by regions], EL Diario], 10 January 2015 (in Spanish)
^ Mapa de Comarcas de Bizkaia - Año: 2010; Indicador: I4 Jóvenes de 24 a 34 años [Map of Regions of Bizkaia - Year: 2010; Indicator: I4 Young people between 24 and 34 years old], Diputación Foral de Bizkaia (in Spanish)
^ Bizkaia mira a sus comarcas para ser más competitiva [Bizkaia looks to its regions to be more competitive], El Correo, 29 April 2017 (in Spanish)
^ Natural Areas of Urola Erdia, Basque Nomads, 30 March 2020
^ Bomberos/as, [Firefighters], Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa - Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa (in Spanish)
^ Planificación energética de Gipuzkoa, [Gipuzkoa energy planning], Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa - Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa (in Spanish)
^ Álava, sin capacidad de movimiento por los cierres de Navarra y La Rioja [Álava, unable to move due to the closures of Navarra and La Rioja], Noticias de Álava, 23 October 2020 (in Spanish)
^ La cuadrilla de Zuya se rebautiza como Gorbeialdea [Zuya's zone is renamed Gorbeialdea], Gasteiz Hoy, 17 May 2016 (in Spanish),