Legrad is a emptied village in northern Croatia with just over 2,000 inhabitants. A city that in the past was a focal point of the country's inhabitants, but now suffers from the consequences of depopulation.
As a strategy for the demographic recovery of this city located near Zagreb delivers houses to young families to settle there at the symbolic price of 30 cents.
This initiative was launched five years ago and given the good results it achieved then, this is the case decided to start it againas the president of the community, Ivan Sabolic, explained.
Fifty new families
Legrad is located at the mouth of the Mur and the Drau, near the border with Hungary. but in recent decades it has been depopulated. In 1960, more than 5,000 people lived in this community, about 2,000 in 2000 and just over 2,000 today.
Thanks to the delivery of these abandoned houses since 2018 Fifty new families have moved to Legradwith around 120 new neighbors.
Conditions for joining this initiative
The people who can choose this “offer” are: Couples who are not older than 45 years, without a criminal record, who have no other place of residence. Priority is given to working people in the region and people with small children. In addition, the city also offers a Subsidy for houses that need to be renovated.
Sabolic has addressed others call on depopulated regions of Croatia to take similar measuresand emphasizes that more and more young families in the country cannot afford to buy a home.
He Country joined the European Union in 2013 and in a decade (between 2011 and 2021), according to official figures, it lost almost 400,000 inhabitants, equivalent to 10% of its population.