Sardinia, 600 euro per month for newborns in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants

It starts again from the children. And to combat the depopulation and abandonment of small towns, the Region of Sardinia is playing the card of contributions to the families of newcomers.

The green light for the new measures comes from the regional government, which approved the new simplified guidelines for the granting of contributions for each newborn, adopted or foster child in favour of families who reside or decide to transfer their residence in municipalities with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants.

The intervention programme provides for the transfer of resources to the municipalities in two equal tranches starting this year. The disbursement will take place after a check of the latest Istat data on the number of children living in the small villages as of 1 January 2025.

"We are relying heavily on this measure to stem the phenomenon of depopulation in the island's small towns," says Armando Bartolazzi, Regional Councillor for Health. This is why we have decided to guarantee the maximum amount available for each eligible child up to the fifth year of age: we are talking about EUR 600 per month for the first child born up to the fourth year of age and EUR 400 for each subsequent child.

What prompted the public administration to activate the anti-depopulation measure are the numbers. In 2023, Sardinia had the lowest birth rate among Italian regions: 4.9 per thousand inhabitants, against an average of 6.7. 'We need to reverse this trend of decline, which is not only demographic, but also economic and social,' Bartolazzi argues, 'which is why we have taken great care, together with our social policies directorate, to introduce mechanisms aimed at not turning the measure into a mere welfare intervention.