Village in Spain’s Andalucia starts giving youngsters cash in bid to stem threat of rural depopulation

THE tiny village of Almachar has tried to encourage the younger generation to remain in the village with incentives towards driving tests.

The local council of Almachar is giving young people between the ages of 18 and 25 €100 to help them towards passing their class B driving tests.

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The aim is to encourage them to remain in the village and use their new freedom to commute to the larger towns for work, therefore keeping the population at acceptable levels.

Mayor of Almachar, Antonio Yuste, explained that: “Fortunately we are not one of the towns in La Axarquia that is losing most of its population, however we believe that this measure, which was an electoral commitment by the PSOE, will help keep young people in the village,”

Almachar is one of the largest growers and exporters of the muscatel grape and raisin in Andalucia, but it is hoped the scheme encourages other regions to come on board with similar projects.

This scheme is not the first time incentives have been used, after Malaga City pioneered the scheme with the ‘Malaga Conduce’ grants which aim to give the same kind of help to young drivers.

Back in 2007, Almachar created a project to give financial aid to new parents during a period when the village was at a population low.

The ‘Baby Cheque’ gave new parents €100 per month to assist with the costs involved with parenthood, as part of a €13,000 investment by the PSOE government at the time.