Spain has doubled its anti-depopulation fund to €80m, with applications closing on 6 November

Spain has opened €80m in grants against depopulation, running from 2026 to 2029, with applications open from 7 October and closing at 23:59:59 on 6 November 2026. The call was published as extract BOE-B-2026-32466 in the Boletín Oficial del Estado of 6 October 2026. Applications go through the PLATERO platform only.

The money is for innovative territorial-transformation projects run by local authorities in municipalities of under 5,000 inhabitants, and related low-density categories. It is competitive, covers up to 90% of eligible costs, and projects have 22 months to run.

MITECO’s own applicant webinar materials of 14 October list support structures for attracting newcomers among the fundable lines.

Why this matters

This is the money behind the Spanish village repopulation schemes that readers ask us about more than almost anything else. The ones that reach the English-language press as “this village will pay you to move there” are, nearly always, a municipality spending from a fund like this one. Knowing where the money comes from tells you something the viral posts do not: the schemes exist on three-year grant cycles, and a village offering something this year may have nothing to offer in 2030.

The budget has doubled on the previous round, which is the real signal. Spanish rural depopulation policy is expanding at the point when remote work makes living in a village of 800 people practical for a wider range of jobs than at any time in the last fifty years.

The honest caveat

You cannot apply for this. It is a grant to local authorities, not to individuals, and nothing here is money a remote worker can claim. What it does is tell you which municipalities will have budgets to spend on attracting residents over the next two years, and that is a better guide to where to look than any listicle.

What to watch

Which municipalities win awards, and what they do with the newcomer-attraction line. That is where the next round of relocation offers will come from.