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This Region in Italy Will Pay You Over $25,000 to Move There

News
by Eben Diskin Sep 11, 2019

An extended vacation to Europe will usually set you back a couple of thousand dollars, but in this case, you’ll actually make money for spending time in Italy. The underpopulated Molise region in Italy is incentivizing people to move there by offering them $770 per month for three years. The only requirements are that the village must have fewer than 2,000 residents and the newcomer must promise to open a business.

In addition to paying new residents, the region will also pay each town $11,000 per month to put toward infrastructure and cultural activities. Beyond simply boosting the population, Donato Toma, president of Molise, explained to The Guardian that people also need “a reason to stay.”

Molise currently has a population of 305,000 and has seen a dramatic decline in recent years. Over 9,000 people have left the area since 2014, and 2,800 residents died or moved away in 2018 alone. This fall in population is largely due to a decrease in births — not a single birth was registered there in 2018 — and an increase in Italian immigration, particularly young people, to other European countries.

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