Spain entices immigrants to remote villages

{"text":[[{"start":6.5,"text":"Spain’s leftwing government is encouraging immigrants to repopulate declining rural areas as its cities are strained by an influx of new arrivals that has made the country a European outlier."}],[{"start":19,"text":"“Without immigration, rural Spain has an enormously difficult future,” said Francesc Boya, the top government official on demography policy, who is overseeing a new national strategy for areas dubbed the “emptied Spain”."}],[{"start":32.9,"text":"Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has bucked a broader shift in Europe towards anti-immigrant policies as he maintains an open-door policy in response to Spain’s ageing population and plummeting birth rates."}],[{"start":46.349999999999994,"text":"“The only way to maintain what we might call sustainable population pyramids is by bringing new settlers into rural areas,” Boya told the FT. “While some of those new settlers may come from the cities, many will come through immigration.”"}],[{"start":60.3,"text":"In less than a quarter of a century, Spain’s foreign-born population has gone from one in 20 residents to almost one in five, a higher proportion than even the US."}],[{"start":70.7,"text":"An influx of immigrant workers, mostly from Latin American countries, has helped turn Spain into the world’s fastest-growing advanced economy over the past two years."}],[{"start":80.2,"text":"But it is pushing up housing costs and straining infrastructure and public services in big cities — grievances the right-wing populist Vox party is exploiting."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":90.8,"text":"Sánchez’s government, in power for nearly eight years, has come under pressure from Vox and the conservative opposition over what they call its lax approach to illegal immigration. Criticism intensified after it announced a sweeping amnesty that will give at least half a million unauthorised migrants the chance to gain residency and work permits."}],[{"start":109.69999999999999,"text":"In a regional election on Sunday in Andalusia, Spain’s most populous region, Vox became a kingmaker with a chance to join a coalition government with the conservative People’s Party. Vox has vowed to push its demand for “national priority” policies that put Spaniards first."}],[{"start":127.29999999999998,"text":"The Socialist-led central government unveiled a new national strategy for rural areas in February that aims to reduce inequalities in services, infrastructure and economic opportunities. "}],[{"start":139.04999999999998,"text":"Boya, who is secretary-general for demography at a ministry that also oversees the environment, said the government was not seeking to force people out of cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. “That could sound like something from a dictatorship. Saying: ‘Right, now we’re going to move people around.’ No, of course not,” he said."}],[{"start":157.74999999999997,"text":"“But the government is keen to encourage people from urban areas who, for whatever reason, are facing difficulties — because housing is more expensive in the city — and whose quality of life would probably improve substantially in rural areas.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

• View of Molezuelas de la Carballeda with red-tiled roofs, beige houses, and a walled garden, seen from above.
• An unused football goal stands in a field overgrown with tall grass and wild plants under a clear blue sky.

"}],[{"start":172.24999999999997,"text":"To achieve this goal, he said, the government was funding initiatives set up by rural councils, companies and non-profit groups to attract immigrants and offer them help such as language classes and advice on schooling, medical care and paying bills."}],[{"start":186.99999999999997,"text":"Boya pointed to the example of Villagatón, a municipality with just over 600 residents in the Castilla y León region, where a factory making parasols and fences has a workforce that is 80 per cent immigrants from Senegal, Gambia and Colombia."}],[{"start":202.39999999999998,"text":"Immigrants have long worked in southern Spain’s agricultural sector. But in inland Spain, villages have been emptying out for decades as younger people leave and older generations die. In many areas, bus services have been cut, schools have closed and doctors’ visits are ever more infrequent."}],[{"start":221.45,"text":"While foreign-born residents make up nearly 20 per cent of Spain’s total population, they account for just 8.9 per cent of the population in low-density municipalities. Since 2022, Spain’s number of foreign-born residents has increased by an annual average of 665,000, taking its total population to nearly 50mn."}],[{"start":243.85,"text":"The country’s birth rate of 1.1 births per woman is the lowest in the EU after Malta. It has the highest life expectancy in the EU at 84."}],[{"start":253.15,"text":"In another government-backed initiative, Fundación Raíces, a non-profit, was seeking to find work for young and vulnerable immigrants living in state-run reception centres and expanding its range to rural areas from cities, Boya said."}],[{"start":268.4,"text":"The sums from the central government are modest: last year its grants for such projects totalled €52mn. Sánchez has said that this year the figure will rise to at least €80mn. The central government cannot provide tax incentives for people to move to rural areas, but Spain’s regional governments can."}],[{"start":287.79999999999995,"text":"Other projects — including one run by the church-linked Talento 58 foundation — seek to find immigrants willing to take over bakeries, supermarkets and bars that would otherwise close down as their owners retire."}],[{"start":300.24999999999994,"text":"“We’re just getting started,” said Boya."}],[{"start":309.24999999999994,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779786477_1667.mp3"}