The overall objective of the present paper is to identify and analyse the territorial factors that influence the economy and demography of rural areas in Catalonia. The paper begins with a definition of the different rural typologies, and then proposes an innovative methodology combining tools from different disciplines, such as economics, statistics, geography and sociology. The methodology is applied to the 946 municipalities existing in Catalonia today, which visually results in a map of the region. The map obtained allows us to identify rural spaces throughout the territory – including metropolitan and peri-urban rural areas. The next step has been the analysis of the indicators of their socio-economic development contexts in order to identify their similarities and differences in terms of socioeconomic and territorial characteristics. As a result of applying this methodology, we can deepen our understanding of the factors behind lagging agricultural activity in rural spaces, as well as make progress in the identification of sustainable policies aimed at preventing the environmental, sociological and cultural losses linked to the abandonment of rural activities.