rate reduction
One in three municipalities in the Community of Valencia faces population decline. This trend is driven mainly by an aging population, reduced vitality in agricultural activity, less diversification in the local economy, and gaps in infrastructure and services that support residents. These factors combine to challenge the sustainability of rural areas across the autonomous community.
Data from the Valencia Anti-Depopulation Agenda indicates that 178 of the 542 municipalities experience this issue. As a result, strategies to curb rural migration have become a topic in regional political discourse, with electoral programs aligning around actions aimed at supporting these communities in the upcoming regional elections on May 28.
In this context, the left-leaning bloc emphasizes ensuring access to basic services and investing in infrastructure for affected municipalities. The PSPV-PSOE highlights a commitment to channel these efforts through a Municipal Cooperation Fund already in operation. The plan also includes promoting remote work as a means to revitalize abandoned lands and encourage the return or relocation of younger residents, while contributing to fire prevention measures and overall resilience of rural areas.
Commitment, in economic terms, proposes a sustainable rural income that helps residents settle locally and stimulates regional commerce. It also supports a framework for a renewable energy initiative that prioritizes rural development while maintaining local environmental and social balance.
Unides Podem-EU aligns with a strategy that protects local businesses from the impact of large-scale solar projects and strengthens support for cooperative enterprises. The alliance also calls for a broader vocational training offer focusing on traditional and emerging rural occupations, aiming to boost local employment opportunities and skills among residents.
The right-leaning parties share a common goal of reducing tax burdens and providing incentives. The major conservative party has proposed lowering the transmission tax to a three percent rate for housing purchases in depopulated municipalities and expanding incentives for new businesses and entrepreneurship directed at rural areas. This approach seeks to foster investment and stabilize communities facing population loss.
Ciudadanos weighs policy options that combine targeted tax benefits with incentives for strategic regional sectors and facilitated public-private cooperation to implement new rural projects. The party also supports a proactive stance to encourage private investment alongside public development in the broader rural ecosystem.
Vox, aligned with other conservative forces, endorses tax relief for families and companies willing to stay in or relocate to depopulated zones. The party also advocates for repealing what it terms a climate law, arguing that reforms could better protect agricultural and livestock activities in rural communities. The position highlights the tension between environmental regulation and practical farming needs in sparsely populated areas.