Village depopulation not even helped by wedding and birth cash

After spending a total of €32,000 on special contributions toward weddings and childbirth over the past ten years, the village of Nenince in the south of Banská Bystrica region is now planning to scrap the payments in response to the shrinking number of inhabitants. Plus, 60 percent of the couples who have received the wedding bonus are now divorced. The one-shot payments were introduced in 2005 to stimulate growth of the village's population. "The contribution has so far been received by 102 young families for childbirths, and 90 couples on wedding," said Mayor Zoltán Kuzma. Even though the contribution initially boosted the population - the village had 1,500 inhabitants a few years ago - the numbers have begun shrinking in the meantime, however, standing now at 1,360.