If you leave the city, I’ll pay you
Tokyo is offering 1 million yen per child to families leaving the city to move outside the metropolis inhabited by 36 million people, but under certain conditions… In addition to Japan, here are the other countries that pay citizens to leave the big centres
Overpopulated cities and almost uninhabited areas, a phenomenon that occurs more or less all over the world. Tokyo, and beyond, has devised a plan to remedy the problem: pay its citizens to go and live elsewhere in the country, provided certain conditions are met.
THE TOKYO PROPOSAL
Tokyo, according to the World Population Review , with over 36 million residents, is the most populous city globally for 2023 and the Japanese government has thought of reducing the demographic pressure by encouraging its inhabitants to leave, with the aim of repopulating other areas.
The proposal, which will be introduced from April, consists of offering families who move outside the metropolis 1 million yen, equal to about 7,000 euros, for each dependent child. Half of the funds will come from the central government and the other half from local municipalities. Approximately 1,300 municipalities have joined the programme, or almost 80% of the total.
The attempt to reverse the demographic decline in the regions is increasingly perceived as a priority for the executive given that this latest proposal is the evolution of a previous one launched three years ago and which provided for 300,000 yen (just over 2,000 euros) . So far, however, the program had not been very successful: in 2019, 71 families had joined, in 2020 there were 290 and in 2021, when working from home has become more common, 1,184.
Now, the government hopes that 10,000 people will move from Tokyo to rural areas by 2027.
WHY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO LEAVE THE CITY
Japanese politicians, according to the Guardian , believe that more must be done to reduce Tokyo's population density and encourage people to start new lives in areas of the country affected by aging , population shrinkage and migration of the most young people to the capital, Osaka and other big cities.
Another phenomenon that worries the authorities is the demographic decline. Indeed, the population of the world's third largest economy suffered a record decline of 644,000 in 2020-21, according to government data, and the population is expected to drop from the current 125 million to an estimated 88 million in 2065, a decrease of 30% in 45 years.
DIGITAL NOMADS? NOT REALLY
However, the government's proposal is not the same as living like a digital nomad. Those who decide to leave Tokyo must embark on a new life, putting down roots and committing themselves to actually contribute to changing the places where they arrive.
Indeed, the conditions stipulate that people live in the new homes for at least five years and that a family member works or plans to open a business there. Whoever gives up before the end of the five years, pays. In this case, the money received will be asked for back.
WHO FOLLOWS TOKYO?
But Tokyo is just the latest example of an effort happening globally to revive small towns in decline.
Among the other countries also mentioned by Quartz are Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, some US states, and also Italy. In 2017, the Swiss municipality of Albinen offered $25,400 per adult to anyone who moves in and builds or renovates a house, provided they commit for 10 years.
Ireland, in 2021, presented a program to move 20% of civil servants from cities to rural areas, however asking those who moved to be able to demonstrate that they were able to work remotely.
The Abruzzo municipality of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in 2020, on the other hand, offered 8,000 euros a year, as well as other incentives, to anyone who moved there, provided they stayed for at least five years.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tokyo-incentivi-lasciare-citta/ on Sun, 08 Jan 2023 07:24:37 +0000.