The strange case of a town in Soria in the middle of nowhere that does not stop gaining inhabitants: “Here we lack houses”

By admin on January 19, 2022

The success of a sausage factory, La Hoguera, stops depopulation in San Pedro Manrique

Since 2000 it has gone from 487 to 655 inhabitants in one of the most uninhabited areas of Europe

The company wants to create 30 more jobs, but there are no empty houses: “We still have to put a minibus to come from Soria”

Ana, a music teacher in her 30s, savors a succulent Castilian soup in the Resta dining room uring Pili, one of the two eating houses in San Pedro Manrique, in the Tierras Altas region of Soria.

The stew has so many bumps that you can hardly see the soup. The television in the living room spits out images of José Luis Martínez Almeida and Novak Djokovic, the last round of the soap opera of the week. The volume of the device is low, almost imperceptible, but the images distract the seven guests in the rustic room.

-Today is my first day, and I have to look for a house, but it has not given me time. I will stay at the hotel for now.

Ana, a temporary teacher who has just been assigned to the town school, chats amicably with the manager of the restaurant, that warns you that it will be difficult to achieve your goal . “It's just that there are no empty houses in the town, not one.”

This phrase would not be surprising if it were pronounced in many other parts of Spain. But not here. At the epicenter of the Spain emptied.

The Atlas Lands have a density of 1.9 inhabitants per square kilometer, only slightly higher than Lapland. It is one of the most uninhabited regions of Europe together with areas of Cuenca and Teruel.