Towns in part of Italy are offering up to £22,000 to budding entrepreneurs willing to move there.
The scheme will offer newcomers €700, or about £620, per month for three years to live in one of the small villages in the Molise region of southern Italy and open a business there.
Molise has a population of 305,000 people across its 106 villages. But its numbers are in a sharp decline with more than 9,000 people having left since 2014.
In 2018 alone, more than 2,800 inhabitants either died or moved to another area - and nine of its towns didn't record a single birth.
Molise's president Donato Toma told The Guardian that those who relocate can open a business of their choosing - but it must be in a village where 2,000 or fewer people reside.
He said: "They can open any sort of activity: a bread shop, a stationery shop, a restaurant, anything. It’s a way to breathe life into our towns while also increasing the population.”
“It’s not just a matter of increasing the population. People also need infrastructure and a reason to stay, otherwise we’ll end up back where we started in a few years,” he said.
The scheme is one of a few in recent years designed to bolster declining villages in Italy.
In January, one town in Sicily put dozens of historic properties up for sale for just €1 in an effort to revive the area.
