Atacama: Settling the desert and the semi desert in Chile

These spaces represent 40% of the national territory, 12% of the population and 15 of GDP. The desert is of extreme aridity and its main economical richness is in mining. These factors influence the human occupation, where 80% live in few urban centers, localized mainly in littoral areas and independent of the climatic, hydrological and geomorphological difficulties. In relation to population structure, adults and men reflect these characteristics. The semidesert, has precipitations up to 200 mm that allow agricultural activities and with mining they constitute its economic base. As in the desert, the sea is a source of economical richness. Rural and urban population are disperse en numerous entities. The rivers organize the occupation and the majority of the cities are along their valleys.