A small town in northern Sweden is offering financial incentives for families who decide to move there. Why not get paid to move to Lapland, Sweden?
Lapland is a land of amazing landscapes, aurora borealis, endless forests and snow-covered expanses. This region is associated with Christmas fairy tales, reindeer, Santa Claus, and winter adventures.
The small town of Glommersträsk in Lapland is a haven for nature lovers and outdoor sports enthusiasts, but the town is facing a serious demographic crisis. In the 1950s, its population was about 1,000, but now it has only 200 residents. The local primary is in danger of closing if numbers continue to drop. Now, a local organization, Glommersbygdens Framtid, which means “The Future of Glommersbygdens,”is vying to save the primary school and repopulate the town with cash handouts.
The situation with school-age children has become particularly critical – there are so few of them, 23 in fact, that the local primary school is under threat of closure. In this case, students will be forced to travel about 40 kilometers every day to the nearest school in Arvidsyaur.
Repopulation schemes are not new. They have been widely used in other European countries like Italy and Spain. This village in Lapland will pay families nearly €900 to move there.
Glommersträsk’s high school shut its doors in 2009 after student numbers fell to just 18 in 2007.
Glommersträsk is surrounded by untainted nature, but still has some useful services within easy reach.
Skellefteå tech hub is around an hour’s drive away. The high school in Arvidsjaur is half an hour away while Luleå, a coastal city with a museum and beaches, can be reached in two hours.
All three have small airports with connections to other European countries including Germany and France.
Get Paid to Move to Lapland, Sweden, written by Tor Kjolberg