According to a recent Eurostat report, one of the major challenges facing the European Union lies in the growing reduction of the population in rural areas, mainly of working age (20-64 years old) and youth (under 20 years old). One of the main consequences of this impact would lie in the socioeconomic disparity between different regions, mainly between urban and rural areas, negatively impacting infrastructure, viable public services, diversified sources of income and decent jobs, as basic conditions to maintain the population.
This is how we are facing a significant displacement of the youth population, where, for example, countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain were below the average with 15% in 2020. On the other hand, it has been determined that in the EU the proportion of young people has decreased from 18.4% in 2010 to 16.3% in 2021, and this percentage is expected to decrease to 14.9% in 2052. The above, could be related to the poor access to employment in rural areas where the unemployment rate in countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy preside the list of European countries with 29%, 27% and 23% respectively.
At the same time, the reality in Palestine is not far from the data provided by the EU. The unemployment rate stood at 19.7% among young people aged 20 to 24, compared to an overall rate of 7.4% among those aged 15 to 64. On the other hand, the youth unemployment rate in Egypt decreased to 17.1% in 2022, resulting in its lowest figure ever.
It is in this context that since the 2022 Rural Compact Conference, all stakeholders interested in acting towards the shared goals of the rural vision are invited to propose commitments and concrete actions for the Rural Compact. This is how the YERAME Youth Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas and Mediterranean Countries project was born with partners from Greece, Italy, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain whose aim is to address depopulation in Euro-Mediterranean rural areas, which have become increasingly depleted of the youth needed to foster economic development, access to services and connectivity.
The aging and declining population is one of the greatest future challenges facing the European Union, and given that rural areas represent the vast majority of the territory involved, YERAME has been developed with the aim of increasing the capacity to provide entrepreneurial skills learning opportunities for organizations working with youth in rural areas. The project is expected to improve the entrepreneurial skills of rural youth in the Mediterranean region, in order to promote the creation of sustainable businesses that can address the depopulation suffered by these areas and thus bring about the revitalization of rural areas affected by depopulation so that, by 2040, they will be stronger, more connected, resilient and prosperous.
Source:
Taking action to tackle rural depopulation