Basque Country decentralized industry to prevent rural depopulation
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The Basque government in Spain implemented a territorial planning strategy in 1990 to distribute population and wealth across the region instead of concentrating them in a single city.
While many Spanish towns face a trend of depopulation known as Empty Spain, the Basque Country avoided this by establishing economic anchors in smaller towns and secondary cities. The government moved key industries into various valleys and municipalities to act as anchors for the larger city of Bilbao.
This approach prevented overpopulation and high housing costs in the main city while providing local youth with pathways to high-paying careers in their hometowns. The Mondragón Cooperative also supports this decentralized model. As the world's largest federation of worker-owned cooperatives, the organization prioritizes local reinvestment and job preservation. Because these cooperatives are anchored in their specific communities, they do not move operations to urban areas or cheaper locations, which helps prevent the rural flight seen in other parts of Spain.
The Basque Country manages its own taxes and enjoys more financial self-governance than other Spanish regions. These policies have helped maintain social cohesion and a more even distribution of residents. While housing costs have still risen across the region, the Basque model serves as a template for how other parts of Spain might address the fact that 90 percent of residents currently live in just 2.6 percent of the country.
