Spain boards the caravan of love to halt the decline of its rural regions

Canada has a similar problem but I can't see us adopting such a romantic solution. We'd be more likely to pump government funds into doomed make-work projects in our underpopulated areas- labore not amore.

95.9 per cent of Spain's population of more than 44 million lives in the bigger cities and coast.The other half - mostly rural areas - is home to the remaining 4.1 per cent.
A novel remedy to bring new life into Spain's dying rural hinterland are the caravanas de amor. Filled with women, they arrive in villages populated mostly by ageing single farmers for a dinner, a dance and perhaps romance.
But the real purpose of the love caravans is more serious: to stop rural Spain dying out. Organisers hope that if couples find love, then children might once again arrive in these villages. One pioneer is the so-called 'Repopulator', Manuel Gozalo, who met his Dominican wife Balbina through a love caravan. 'My motto is love for rural repopulation,' he said. The men pay between €50 (£34) and €70 to meet the women, who pay €18. The women are mostly from Latin America. More