‘I was shot in the leg back home’: the refugees reviving rural Spain
Depopulation can be a serious problem – ultimately, a shrinking community can’t maintain its services. But asylum seekers are bringing ghost villages back to life
March 2024
Fertility rates are falling in the rich world. But there are still plenty of people to go round
Danny Dorling
A slowdown in global birthrates is a problem for states such as South Korea, but not for humanity and especially women
October 2023
‘We are already dead here’: last residents of Tunisian ghost town set sights on Europe
The battle for births: how the far right are exploiting Italy’s ‘demographic winter’
February 2023
Spanish activists end attempt to revive abandoned village after 10 years
Project to revive 1,000-year-old village of Fraguas ended as activists face fines of up to €110,000
November 2022
Beyond 8 billion
‘Without enough Latvians, we won’t be Latvia’: eastern Europe’s shrinking population
Latvia’s population is 30% smaller than it was in 1990 and by 2050 numbers will be in decline in over half of Europe’s 52 countries
August 2022
Plan to offer young people £50,000 to move to Scottish islands scrapped
Islands bond idea, dismissed as ‘election gimmick’ by critics, found to be unpopular with residents
February 2022
Covid recovery funding pits Italy’s dying towns against each other
Programme that involves small communities bidding for slice of €420m fund sparks controversy and division
January 2022
Hopes Cathedral of the Moorland could save Spanish village with single resident
Empty promise: new political group speaks up for depopulated rural Spain
September 2021
Hair Truck: Spanish pair’s mobile salon brings styling to cut-off communities
Natalia López and Eneko Abad crisscross Aragon serving elderly customers who cannot get to salons
August 2021
Spanish reality TV show takes on problem of rural depopulation
Forty contestants will compete to launch businesses from villages of fewer than 5,000 people
April 2021
Back in black: Spanish region summons Goya home to stem decline
The Pacific project
Deserted islands: Pacific resorts struggle to survive a year without tourists
March 2021
School for female shepherds aims to restore balance in Spain's countryside
Spanish farmers deeply split as ban on hunting wolves is extended
January 2021
As birth rates fall, animals prowl in our abandoned 'ghost villages'
South Korea's population falls for first time in its history
November 2020
'Wiped off the map': tiny Italian villages cower from Covid threat
Japan to help cover IVF costs in attempt to avert demographic crisis
