Silver linings: Crumbling, depopulated Spanish villages have been saved by the pandemic
City dwellers seek an escape from claustrophobic lockdowns and question the supposed advantages of their rat-race lives in the city
4 April 2021 • 7:00am
The Spanish government unveiled a 10-billion-euro spending package using EU Covid recovery funds to tackle the demographic challenge
Credit: Jon Mikel Duralde/Alamy Stock Photo
For decades Spain’s rural areas have been affected by a steady drift of families and young people to cities, leaving the country’s villages to die a slow death witnessed by the elderly inhabitants who remained.
Now the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 75,000 people in Spain, is providing an unexpected silver lining as city dwellers seek a permanent escape from claustrophobic lockdowns and question the supposed advantages of their rat-race lives in the city.