While all of these qualities might make Spain seem like a very stable country, they are often countered by many destabilizing factors that play a part in making the lives of Spanish citizens much more difficult than it would seem. One of the most controversial areas in Spain is the region of Catalonia. Many of the people in this region identify themselves as part of the stateless nation of Catalonia. Catalonia is one of Spain's wealthiest regions and its push for independence severely damages the economical stability in Spain as well as causing legal, and social tensions to rise. While Spain has ways to help the unemployed, the sheer amounts of unemployed persons is often so high that the government cannot keep up with the masses of people struggling to find a job. The youth unemployment rate is especially high and even surpasses 50% in some areas. This combined with the high dependency ratio caused by an aging population has led to many protests and both economic and social instability. While the democracy in Spain is relatively strong, this is often countered by constant cases of corruption, the most notable being the Gürtel scandal in which a network of companies bribed the Peoples Party into giving them public job contracts. This scandal spanned over a decade beginning in the 1990s and implicated many politicians. This eventually led to the downfall of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018 and caused mass distrust of the government.