SHUBRA KHIT, Egypt — Lush green farms once stretched all around the Nile River, the fertile dark soil a vital source of life since the Pharaonic times, when ancient Egyptians developed some of the first sophisticated farming methods in the region.
Now, red-brick urban settlements are springing up everywhere, snuffing out farmland to make way for the growing population in this country of about 90 million people.
A generation after the last of the sawmills that were its economic lifeblood shut down, a vast region of Central Eastern Spain less than two hours from Madrid has become one of the biggest population deserts in Europe, rivaling parts of the Arctic. For the area’s graying inhabitants — seniors outnumber primary schoolers 4 to 1 — the daily rhythms of work and play have grown more elongated — one boy, the only boy in his village, travels 40 miles to school — or less steady — an unemployed electrician tries his hand at taxidermy to make ends meet — but beat on nonetheless, as Getty Images photographer David Ramos documents in this intimate diary.
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