  We use high signal-to-noise ratio long-slit spectra in the 3600-4700A range
of the twenty brightest northern Seyfert 2 galaxies to study the variation of
the stellar population properties as a function of distance from the nucleus.
In order to characterize the stellar population and other continuum sources
(e.g. featureless continuum FC) we have measured equivalent widths Ws of six
absorption features, four continuum colours and their radial variations, and
performed spectral population synthesis as a function of distance from the
nucleus. About half the sample has CaIIK and G-band W values smaller at the
nucleus than at 1 kpc from it, due to a younger population and/or FC. The
stellar population synthesis shows that, while at the nucleus, 75% of the
galaxies present contribution > 20% of ages younger or equal than 100Myr and/or
of a FC, this proportion decreases to 45% at 3 kpc. In particular, 55% of the
galaxies have contribution > 10% of the 3 Myr/FC component (a degenerate
component in which one cannot separate what is due to a FC or to a 3 Myr
stellar population) at the nucleus, but only 25% of them have this contribution
at 3 kpc. As reference, the stellar population of 10 non-Seyfert galaxies,
spanning the Hubble types of the Seyfert (from S0 to Sc) was also studied. A
comparison between the stellar population of the Seyferts and that of the
non-Seyferts shows systematic differences: the contribution of ages younger
than 1 Gyr is in most cases larger in the Seyfert galaxies than in
non-Seyferts, not only at the nucleus but up to 1 kpc from it.
