The impact of migration for rural and mountainous wellbeing

Rural and mountain areas are, as first results of the H2020 project MATILDE show, more often affected by population losses, lower educational attainment levels of its population and higher unemployment. At the same time, results show that rural and mountainous areas are very diverse and often stand out from the overall development of the country. However, the initial results have uncovered the importance of immigration and the presence of migrants for their social and economic development. Migration does not only play a key role in stabilising and reversing demographic trends, but also holds great potential for social innovation, maintaining alive local businesses, and enlarging local and regional economies by using their multilingualism, cross-border networks and multiple cultural knowledge as an asset. The aim of this panel is to enlighten the impact of international and internal migration for rural and mountain areas of Europe, migrants’ role for demographic development, social innovation, and post-COVID resilience, focusing also on needed policies to materialise the potentials.