Un despoblado o pueblo fantasma es una aldea o pueblo que en el presente ya no tiene habitantes permanentes, conservando con frecuencia el topónimo y la memoria oral o escrita de su existencia. Nicolás Cabrillana Ciézar definió despoblado como «establecimiento humano permanente abandonado por razones económicas, sociales o políticas», si bien «consideramos como despoblado sólo a las agrupaciones humanas que tuvieron cierto número de vecinos; no consideramos como tales las simples dehesas, casas aisladas o pequeños centros de explotación agraria». A los despoblados también se los suele llamar pueblo fantasma, ciudad fantasma, mortuorio o pueblo abandonado.

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A ghost town is an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods that are still populated, but significantly less so than in years past; for example those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction. Some ghost towns, especially those that preserve period-specific architecture, have become tourist attractions. Some examples are Bannack, Montana; Calico, California; Centralia, Pennsylvania; Oatman, Arizona; and South Pass City, Wyoming in the United States; Barkerville, British Columbia in Canada; Craco in Italy; Elizabeth Bay and Kolmanskop in Namibia; Pripyat in Ukraine; and Danushkodi in India. Visiting, writing about, and photographing ghost towns is a minor industry. The town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat is a ghost town that is the de jure capital of Montserrat.

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