Editing Rural flight

{{Short description|Migratory pattern of people from rural to urban areas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
[[File:Rural flight.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Population age comparison between rural [[Pocahontas County, Iowa]], and urban [[Johnson County, Iowa]], illustrating the flight of young female adults (red) to urban centers in Iowa<ref>2000 U.S. Census Data</ref>]]
{{Rural society}}
'''Rural flight''' (also known as '''rural-to-urban migration, rural depopulation''', or '''rural exodus''') is the [[Human migration|migratory pattern]] of people from [[rural area]]s into [[urban area]]s. It is [[urbanization]] seen from the rural perspective.

In [[Industrialisation|industrializing economies]] like [[Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom|Britain in the eighteenth century]] or [[Four Asian Tigers|East Asia in the twentieth century]], it can occur following the [[Factory farming|industrialization]] of [[Primary sector of the economy|primary industries]] such as [[Industrial agriculture|agriculture]], [[Mining industry|mining]], [[Industrial fisheries|fishing]], and [[Forestry industry|forestry]]—when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of output to market—and related [[Secondary sector of the economy|secondary industries]] (refining and processing) are consolidated.   Rural exodus can also follow an ecological or human-caused catastrophe such as a famine or resource depletion. These are examples of [[push factors]].

People can also move into town to seek [[Wage|higher wages]], [[Education|educational access]] and other urban amenities; examples of [[pull factors]].

Once rural populations fall below a [[Critical mass (disambiguation)|critical mass]], the population is too small to support certain businesses, which then also leave or close, in a [[vicious circle]].   Services to smaller and more dispersed populations may be [[Economies of scale|proportionately more expensive]], which can lead to closures of offices and services, which further harm the rural economy.  Schools are the archetypal example because they influence the decisions of parents of young children: a village or region without a school will typically lose families to larger towns that have one.  But the concept ([[urban hierarchy]]) can be applied more generally to many services and is explained by [[central place theory]].

Government policies to combat rural flight include campaigns to expand services to the countryside, such as [[Rural electrification|electrification]] or [[distance education]]. Governments can also use restrictions like [[internal passport]]s to make rural flight illegal. Economic conditions that can counter rural depopulation include [[commodities boom]]s, the expansion of [[Outdoor recreation|outdoor-focused tourism]], and a shift to [[Zoom town|remote work]], or [[exurbanization]]. To some extent, governments generally seek only to manage rural flight and channel it into certain cities, rather than stop it outright as this would imply taking on the expensive task of building airports, railways, hospitals, and universities in places with few users to support them, while neglecting growing urban and suburban areas.

==Historical trends==
Prior to the [[Industrial Revolution]], rural flight occurred in mostly localized regions. Pre-industrial societies did not experience large rural-urban migration flows primarily due to the inability of cities to support large populations. Lack of large employment industries, high urban mortality, and low food supplies all served as checks keeping pre-industrial cities much smaller than their modern counterparts. [[Ancient Athens]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], scholars estimate, had peak populations of 80,000 and 500,000.<ref name=Weeks>{{cite book|last=Weeks|first=John|title=Population: an introduction to concepts and issues|year=2012|publisher=Wadsworth, Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, CA|pages=353–391}}</ref>

The onset of the [[Industrial Revolution|Industrial Revolution in Europe]] in the late 19th century removed many of these checks. As food supplies increased and stabilized and industrialized centers arose, cities began to support larger populations, sparking the start of rural flight on a massive scale.<ref name=Weeks /> This was often helped along by periodic [[agricultural recession]]s. The United Kingdom went from having 20% of the population living in urban areas in 1800 to more than 70% by 1925.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Davis|first=Kingsley|title=The Urbanization of the Human Population|journal=Scientific American|volume=213|issue=3|pages=40–53|url=http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/3245/871552/The_Urbanization_of_the_Human_Population--Kingsley_Davis.pdf|access-date=13 March 2014|bibcode=1965SciAm.213c..40D|year=1965|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0965-40}}</ref> While the late 19th century and early 20th century saw much of rural flight focused in [[Western Europe]] and the United States, as [[industrialization]] spread throughout the world during the 20th century, rural flight and [[urbanization]] followed quickly behind. In the early twenty-first century, rural flight was especially distinctive phenomenon in [[China]] and [[sub-Saharan Africa]].<ref name=Weeks /><ref name=ChinaDaily>{{cite news|last=Juan|first=Shan|title=Rural exodus to cities continue|url=http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2012-08/08/content_15652220.htm|newspaper=China Daily|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref>

=== Mechanization and ecology: case study of the Dust Bowl in 1930s North America ===
[[File:Dust Bowl - Dallas, South Dakota 1936.jpg|thumb|250px|The effects of the [[Dust Bowl]] in [[Dallas, South Dakota]], May 1936|left]]
The shift from mixed [[subsistence farming]] to commodity crops and livestock began in the late 19th century. New capital market systems and the railroad network began the trend towards larger farms that employed fewer people per acre. These larger farms used more efficient technologies such as steel plows, mechanical [[reaper]]s, and higher-yield seed stock, which reduced human input per unit of production.<ref name="Cronon">{{cite book | last=Cronon| first=William| title=Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West| url=https://archive.org/details/naturesmetropoli00cron_0| url-access=registration| publisher=Norton| location=New York| year=1991| isbn=9780393029215}}</ref> The other issue on the Great Plains was that people were using inappropriate farming techniques for the soil and weather conditions.  Most [[Homestead Acts|homestead]]ers had [[family farm]]s generally considered too small to survive (under 320 acres), and [[European Americans|European-American]] subsistence farming could not continue as it was then practiced.

During the [[Dust Bowl]] and the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, large numbers of people [[Depopulation of the Great Plains|fled rural areas of the Great Plains]] and the Midwest due to depressed commodity prices and high debt loads exacerbated by several years of drought and large [[dust storm]]s.<ref name="Cooper">{{cite book | last=Cooper| first=Michael L.| title=Dust to eat: drought and depression in the 1930s| url=https://archive.org/details/dusttoeatdrought00coop| url-access=registration| publisher=Clarion| location=New York| year=2004| isbn=9780618154494}}</ref> Rural flight from the Great Plains has been depicted in literature, as in [[John Steinbeck]]'s novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1939), in which a family from the [[Great Plains]] migrates to [[California]], fleeing the Dust Bowl.

===Since World War II===
{{Blockquote|"Women leave in greater numbers than men. There is a glass ceiling for women everywhere, but in rural areas it tends to be made of thick steel." ''Hiroya Masuda, author of Japanese report on rural depopulation.''<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/06/29/rural-areas-bear-the-burden-of-japans-ageing-shrinking-population |title = Rural areas bear the burden of Japan's ageing, shrinking population|newspaper = The Economist|date = 29 June 2019}}</ref>}}

Post-World War II rural flight has been caused primarily by the spread of [[industrialized agriculture]]. Small, labor-intensive [[family farms]] have grown into, or have been replaced by, heavily mechanized and specialized industrial farms. While a small family farm typically produced a wide range of crop, garden, and animal products—all requiring substantial labor—large industrial farms typically specialize in just a few crop or livestock varieties, using large machinery and high-density livestock containment systems that require a fraction of the labor per unit produced. For example, [[Iowa State University]] reports the number of [[hog farmer]]s in Iowa dropped from 65,000 in 1980 to 10,000 in 2002, while the number of hogs per farm increased from 200 to 1,400.<ref name="ISU 1">{{cite web  |url=http://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/summer_03/article1.aspx| title=Living with Hogs in Rural Iowa| year=2003| work=Iowa Ag Review| publisher=[[Iowa State University]]| access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref>

The consolidation of the feed, seed, [[processed grain]], and livestock industries has meant that there are fewer small businesses in rural areas. This decrease in turn exacerbated the decreased demand for labor. Rural areas that used to be able to provide employment for all young adults willing to work in challenging conditions, increasingly provide fewer opportunities for young adults. The situation is made worse by the decrease in services such as schools, business, and cultural opportunities that accompany the decline in population, and the increasing age of the remaining population further stresses the social service system of rural areas.

===Abandonment of small towns===
[[File:Menkovo - abandoned post office - DSCF5841.JPG|thumb|An abandoned post office in [[Menkovo]], [[Yaroslavl Oblast]], Russia]]The rise of corporate agricultural structures directly affects small rural communities, resulting in decreased populations, decreased incomes for some segments, increased income inequality, decreased community participation, fewer retail outlets and less retail trade, and increased environmental pollution.<ref>[http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/duffy/DuffyOct97.htm "Changes in Iowa farm structure"]; University of Iowa Extension;</ref>

Since the 1990s, China has merged schools into more centralized village-, town-, or county-level schools in rural areas to address some of these very problems.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.07.010|title = Has the compulsory school merger program reduced the welfare of rural residents in China?|journal = China Economic Review|volume = 46|pages = 123–141|year = 2017|last1 = Cai|first1 = Weixian|last2 = Chen|first2 = Gong|last3 = Zhu|first3 = Feng}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/effect-primary-school-mergers-academic-performance-students-rural-china | title=The Effect of Primary School Mergers on Academic Performance of Students in Rural China| journal=International Journal of Educational Development| issue=6| pages=570–585| date=November 2010| last1=Loyalka| first1=Prashant| last2=Rozelle| first2=Scott| last3=Luo| first3=Renfu| last4=Zhang| first4=Linxiu| last5=Liu| first5=Chengfang| volume=30| doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.05.003| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/chernobyl-animals-red-forest | title=In the Wake of Nuclear Disaster, Animals Are Thriving in the Red Forest of Chernobyl| date=19 February 2019}}</ref>

== Reasons for leaving ==
As with other [[human migration]], various push and pull factors contribute to rural flight: lower levels of (perceived) economic opportunity in rural communities versus urban ones, lower levels of government investment in rural communities, greater education opportunities in cities, marriages, increased social acceptance in urban areas, and higher levels of rural fertility.

=== Economic motives ===
Some migrants choose to leave rural communities to pursue economic opportunity in urban areas.  Greater economic opportunities can be real or perceived.  According to the [[Harris-Todaro Model]], migration to urban areas will continue as long as "expected urban real income at the margin exceeds real agricultural product" (127).<ref>{{cite web|last=Harris|first=John|title=Migration, Unemployment and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis|url=http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1222150.files/Session%2018/harris_todaro70.pdf|publisher=American Economic Association|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref>  However, sociologist Josef Gugler points out that while individual benefits of increased wages may outweigh the costs of migration,  if enough individuals follow this rationale, it can produce harmful effects such as overcrowding and unemployment on a national level.<ref name="Gugler">Gugler, Josef. "Overurbanization Reconsidered." ''Economic Development and Cultural Change'' 31, no. 1 (1 October 1982): 173–89.</ref>  This phenomenon, when the rate of urbanization outpaces the rate of economic growth, is known as [[overurbanization]].<ref name="Davis">Davis, Kingsley, and Hilda Hertz Golden. "Urbanization and the Development of Pre-Industrial Areas." Economic Development and Cultural Change 3, no. 1 (October 1954): 6–26.</ref>  With the rise of [[industrial agriculture]], mechanization has reduced the number of jobs in rural communities. 

Some scholars have also attributed rural flight to the effects of globalization as the demand for increased economic competitiveness leads people to choose capital over labor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perz|first=Stephen|title=The Rural Exodus in the Context of Economic Crisis, Globalization, and Reform in Brazil|journal=The International Migration Review|volume=34|issue=3|pages=842–881|jstor=2675947|year=2000|doi=10.1177/019791830003400308|s2cid=220350452}}</ref> At the same time, rural fertility rates have historically been higher than urban fertility rates.<ref name="Weeks" /> The combination of declining rural jobs and a persistently high rural fertility rate has led to rural-urban migration streams. Rural flight also contains a positive feedback loop where previous migrants from rural communities assist new migrants in adjusting to city life. Also known as [[chain migration]], migrant networks lower barriers to rural flight. For example, an overwhelming majority of rural migrants in China located jobs in urban areas through migrant networks.<ref>{{cite web|title=China Human Development Report 2005: Development with Equity|publisher=UNDP |url=https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/cn/UNDP-CH-HD-Publication-HDR-2005.pdf}}</ref>

Some families choose to send their children to cities as a form of investment for the future. A study conducted by Bates and Bennett (1974) concluded that rural communities in Zambia that had other viable investment opportunities, like livestock for instance, had lower rates of rural-urban migration as compared to regions without viable investment opportunities. Sending their children into cities can serve as long-term investments with the hope that their children will be able to send remittances back home after getting a job in the city.<ref name="Zambia">{{Cite journal|last=Bates|first=Robert|title=Determinants of the Rural Exodus in Zambia|journal=Cahiers d'Études Africaines|volume=14|issue=55|pages=543–564|jstor=4391333|year=1974|doi=10.3406/cea.1974.2636|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/82866/1/sswp22.pdf}}</ref>

Poorer people face severe challenges in the agricultural sector because of diminishing access to productive farmland. Foreign investors through [[Foreign direct investment|Foreign Direct Investment]] (FDI) schemes have been encouraged to lease land in rural areas in [[Cambodia]] and [[Ethiopia]]. This has led to the loss of farmland, range land, woodlands and water sources from local communities. Large-scale agricultural projects funded by FDI only employed a few experts specialized in the relevant new technologies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002457/245765e.pdf|title=Learning knowledge and skills for agriculture to improve rural livelihoods|last=Robinson-Pant|first=Anna|publisher=UNESCO|year=2016|isbn=978-92-3-100169-7|pages=90–91}}</ref>

===Social motives===
In other instances, rural flight may occur in response to social determinants. A study conducted in 2012 indicated that a significant proportion of rural flight in India occurred due to social factors such as migration with household, marriage, and education. Migration with households and marriage affect women in particular as most often they are the ones required to move with households and move for marriage, especially in developing regions.<ref name="India">{{cite journal|last=Hassan|first=Tarique|author2=Khan, Jabir |title=Determinants of Rural Out-Migration in India|journal=International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences|date=December 2012|volume=1|issue=12|url=https://www.academia.edu/5450848|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> 
	
Rural youth may choose to leave their rural communities as a method of transitioning into adulthood, seeking avenues to greater prosperity. With the stagnation of the [[rural economics|rural economy]] and encouragement from their parents, rural youth may choose to migrate to cities out of social norms – demonstrating leadership and self-respect.<ref name="Youth">{{cite web|last=Min-Harris|first=C.|title=Youth migration and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Empowering the Rural Youth|url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/africa/YouthMigration.pdf|publisher=Disponible en ligne dans le site|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> With this societal encouragement combined with depressed rural economies, rural youth form a large proportion of the migrants moving to urban areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a study conducted by Touray in 2006 indicated that about 15% (26 million) of urban migrants were youth. 
	
Lastly, natural disasters can often be single-point events that lead to temporarily massive rural-urban migration flows. The 1930s Dust Bowl in the United States, for example, led to the flight of 2.5 million people from the Plains by 1940, many to the new cities in the West. It is estimated that as many as one out of every four residents in the Plains States left during the 1930s.<ref name="DustBowlPBS">{{cite web|title=Mass Exodus from the Plains|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-mass-exodus-plains/|publisher=PBS|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> More recently, drought in Syria from 2006 to 2011 has prompted a rural exodus to major urban centers. Massive influxes in urban areas, combined with difficult living conditions, have prompted some scholars to link the drought to the arrival of the [[Arab Spring]] in Syria.<ref name="Syria">{{cite news|last=Aukalh|first=R.|title=A rural exodus as drought takes hold of Syria|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/16/a_rural_exodus_as_drought_takes_hold_of_syria.html|access-date=13 March 2014|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=16 March 2013}}</ref>

==Examples==
===United States and Canada===
{{see also|Depopulation of the Great Plains}}
The terms are used in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] to describe the flight of people from rural areas in the [[Great Plains]] and [[Midwest]] regions, and to a lesser extent rural areas of the northeast and southeast and Appalachia. It is also particularly noticeable in parts of [[Atlantic Canada]] (especially [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]), since the [[collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery|collapse of Atlantic cod fishing fields]] in 1992.

Rural counties in the United States make up about 70 percent of the nation's land mass. Historically, population increase from births in rural areas more than compensated for the number of people moving from rural areas to urban areas, but from 2010 to 2016, rural areas lost population in absolute numbers for the first time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rural Population Loss and Strategies for Recovery|url=https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/econ_focus/2020/q1/district_digest|access-date=2020-08-30|website=www.richmondfed.org|language=en-us}}</ref>

===China===
[[File:Migrant Worker Style (12085578295).jpg|thumb|A Chinese migrant worker leaving the worksite after a shift in a city.]]
{{Main|Migration in China}}

[[China]], like many other currently industrializing countries, has had a relatively late start to rural flight. Until 1983, the Chinese government, through the [[hukou system]], greatly restricted the ability of their citizens to internally migrate. Since 1983, the Chinese government has progressively lifted the restrictions on internal migration. This has led to a great increase in the number of people migrating to urban areas.<ref name="Hukou">{{cite journal|last=Liang|first=Zai|author2=Zhongdong Ma |title=China's floating population: new evidence from the 2000 census|journal=Population and Development Review|year=2004|volume=30|issue=3|pages=467–488|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2004.00024.x}}</ref> However, even today, the hukou system limits the ability of rural migrants to receive full access to urban social services at the urban subsidized costs.<ref name="Economist" /> As with most examples of rural flight, several factors have led towards China's massive urbanization. Income disparity, family pressure, surplus labor in rural areas due to higher average fertility rates, and improved living conditions all play a role in contributing to the flows of migrants from rural to urban areas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Labour Migration|url=http://www.ilo.org/beijing/areas-of-work/labour-migration/lang--en/index.htm|publisher=International labour organization|access-date=18 April 2014}}</ref> In 2014, approximately 250 million rural migrants lived in cities with 54% of the total Chinese population living in urban areas.<ref name="Economist">{{Cite news|title=China's cities: The Great Transition|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21599360-government-right-reform-hukou-system-it-needs-be-braver-great|access-date=18 April 2014|date=2014-03-21}}</ref>

===England and Wales===

A focus by landowners on efficient production led to the [[enclosure of the commons]] in the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{cite news|last=Beresford| first= Maurice| author-link = Maurice Beresford | year=1998|title= The Lost Villages of England (Revised ed.)|publisher=Sutton}}</ref> This created unrest in rural areas as tenants were then unable to [[grazing rights|graze]] their livestock. They sometimes resorted to illegal means to support their families.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shoemaker| first=Robert B.|date=1999|title= Prosecution and Punishment. Petty crime and the law in London and rural Middlesex, c. 1660–1725|publisher=Harlow|location=Essex: Longman| isbn= 978-0-582-23889-3}}</ref> This was followed, in turn, by [[penal transportation]] which sent offenders out of the country, often Australia. Eventually, economic measures produced the [[British Agricultural Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present |last=Landes |first=David S. |year=1969 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-09418-4 |pages=18}}</ref>

===Germany===
====Middle Ages====
Rural flight has been occurring to some degree in Germany since the 11th century. A corresponding principle of German law is ''[[Stadtluft macht frei]]'' ("city air makes you free"), in longer form ''Stadtluft macht frei nach Jahr und Tag'' ("city air makes you free after a year and a day"): by custom and, from 1231/32, by statute, a [[serf]] who had spent [[Year and a day rule|a year and a day]] in a city was free, and could not be reclaimed by their former master.

====German ''Landflucht''====
{{Main|Landflucht}}

''[[Landflucht]]'' ("flight from the land") refers to the mass [[Human migration|migration]] of peasants into the cities that occurred in [[Germany]] (and throughout most of Europe) in the late 19th century.

In 1870 the rural population of Germany constituted 64% of the population; by 1907 it had shrunk to 33%.<ref name="Schapiro, Shotwell p. 300">SchapiroShotwell; 1922, p. 300.</ref> In 1900 alone, the Prussian provinces of [[East Prussia]], [[West Prussia]], [[Province of Posen|Posen]], [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], and [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]] lost about 1,600,000 people to the cities,<ref name="Kirk p. 139">Kirk1969, p. 139.</ref> where these former agricultural workers were absorbed into the rapidly growing factory labor class;<ref name="Mises p. 8">Mises2006, p. 8.</ref> One of the causes of this mass-migration was the decrease in rural income compared to the rates of pay in the cities.<ref name="Shafir p. 150">Shafir 1996, p. 150.</ref>

''Landflucht'' resulted in a major transformation of the German countryside and agriculture. [[Mechanized agriculture]] and migrant workers, particularly Poles from the east (Sachsengänger), became more common. This was especially true in the [[province of Posen]] that was [[Prussian partition|gained by Prussia]] when [[partitions of Poland|Poland was partitioned]].<ref name="Shafir p. 150" /> The Polish population of eastern Germany was one of the justifications for the creation of the "[[Polish corridor]]" after World War I and the absorption of the land east of the [[Oder-Neisse line]] into Poland after World War II. Also, some labor-intensive enterprises were replaced by much less labor-intensive ones such as [[game preserve]]s.<ref name="Drage p. 77">Drage 1909, p. 77.</ref>

The word ''Landflucht'' has negative connotations in German, as it was coined by agricultural employers, often of the German aristocracy, who were lamenting their labor shortages.<ref name="Mises p. 8" /><ref name="McLean, Kromkowski p. 56">McLean, Kromkowski 1991, p. 56.</ref>

===Scotland===
{{Further|Highland Clearances|Lowland Clearances}}
The rural exodus of Scotland followed that of England, but delayed by several centuries. [[Highland Clearances|Consolidation of farms and elimination of inefficient tenants]] occurred over about 110 years from the 18th to the 19th centuries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Richards|first=Eric|year=2008|title=The Highland Clearances: People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil|chapter=Answers and Questions|publisher=Birlinn Ltd|location=Edinburgh}}
</ref> [[Samuel Johnson]] encountered this in 1773 and documented it in his work ''[[A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland]].'' He deplored the exodus but did not have the information to analyze the problem.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Samuel|title=A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides|date=2006|orig-year=1775|publisher=Penguin UK|location=London|edition=James Boswell}}</ref>

===Sweden===
Rural flight and out-migration in Sweden can be traced in two distinct waves. The first, beginning in the 1850s when 82% of the Swedish population lived in rural areas, and continuing till the late 1880s, was mostly due to push factors in the countryside related to poverty, unemployment, low agricultural wages, debt peonage, semi-feudalism, and religious oppression by the State church. Most of the migration was ad-hoc and directed towards emigration to the three big cities of Sweden, America, Denmark, or Germany. Many of these first emigrants were unskilled, barely literate laborers who sought farm work or daily wage labour in the cities.

The second wave started from the late 1890s and reached its peak between 1922 and 1967, with the highest rates of rural flight occurring in the 1920s and the 1950s. This was mostly "pull factors" due to the economic boom and industrial prosperity in Sweden wherein the massive economic expansion and wage increases in the urban areas pulled young people to migrate for work and at the same time drove down work opportunities in the countryside. Between 1925 and 1965, Sweden's GDP per capita increased from US$850 to US$6200. Simultaneously, the percentage of the population living in rural areas decreased drastically from 54% in 1925 to 21% in 1965.

=== Russia and the former Soviet states ===
[[File:Novospasskoe1.jpg|thumb|The defunct church in the abandoned village Novospasskoye, [[Saratov Oblast]], Russia]]Rural flight began later for the former states of the [[USSR]] than in [[Western Europe]]. In 1926 only 18% of Russians lived in urban areas, compared to over 75% at the same time in the United Kingdom. Although the process began later, throughout World War II and the decades immediately proceeding, rural flight proceeded at a rapid pace. By 1965, 53% of Russians lived in urban areas.<ref name="Wadekin">{{cite journal|last= Wadekin|first= Karl-Eugen|title= Internal Migration and the Flight from the Land in USSR|journal= Soviet Studies|date= October 1966|volume= 18|issue= 2|pages= 131–152|jstor= 149517|doi= 10.1080/09668136608410523}}</ref> Statistics compiled by M. Ya Sonin, a Soviet author, in 1959, demonstrate the rapid [[urbanization]] of the [[USSR]]. Between 1939 and 1959, the rural population declined by 21.3 million, while that of urban centers increased by 39.4 million. Of this dramatic shift in population, rural flight accounts for more than 60% of the change.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Sonin|first= M. Ya.|title= Vosproizvodstvo rabochei sily v SSSR i balans truda|date= March 1959|page= 144}}</ref> Generally, most rural migrants tended to settle in cities and towns within their district.<ref name="Wadekin" /> Rural flight persisted through the majority of the 20th century. However, with the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union|end of the Soviet Union]], rural flight reversed as political and economic instability in the cities prompted many urban dwellers to return to rural villages.<ref name="Wegren">{{cite journal|last= Wegren|first= Stephen K.|title= Rural Migration and Agrarian Reform in Russia: A Research Note|journal= Europe-Asia Studies|date= July 1995|volume= 47|issue= 5|pages= 877–888|jstor= 152691|doi= 10.1080/09668139508412292|pmid= 12320195}}</ref>

Rural flight did not occur uniformly throughout the USSR. Western [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]] and the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]] experienced the greatest declines in rural population, 30% and 17% respectively. Conversely, peripheral regions of the USSR, like [[Central Asia]], experienced gains, contradicting the general pattern of rural-urban migration of this period. Increased diversification of crops and labor shortages were primary contributors to the gains in rural population in the periphery.<ref name="Wadekin" />

Rural flight in Russia and the former USSR had several major determinants. The industrialization of agriculture, which came later in Russia and the former USSR, led to declines in available rural jobs. Lower living standards and tough work also motivated some peasants to migrate to urban areas.<ref name="Wadekin" /> In particular, the Soviet ''[[kolkhoz]]'' system (the collective farms in the Soviet Union) aided in maintaining low living standards for Soviet peasants. Beginning around 1928, the [[kolkhoz]] system replaced [[family farm]]s throughout the Soviet Union. Forced to work long hours for low pay at rates fixed by the government and often unadjusted to [[inflation]], Russian peasants experienced quite low living-conditions - especially compared to urban life.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Kolkhoz|url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/321400/kolkhoz|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date= 29 March 2014}}</ref> While [[Brezhnev]]'s wage reforms in 1965 ameliorated the low wages received by peasants, rural life remained suffocating, especially for the skilled and the educated.<ref name="Wegren" />

Although migrants came from all segments of society, several groups were more likely to migrate than others. Like other examples of rural flight, the young were more likely than the old to migrate to the cities. Young women under 20 were the most likely segment of the population to leave rural life. This exodus of young women further exacerbated the demographic transitions occurring in rural communities as the rate of natural increase dropped precipitously over the course of the 20th century. Lastly, the skilled and educated were also likely to migrate to urban areas.<ref name=Wadekin /><ref name=Wegren />

=== Mexico ===
Rural flight in Mexico occurred throughout the 1930s up until the present day. Like other developing nations, the beginning of industrialization in Mexico quickly accelerated the rate of rural flight.<ref name=Arizpe>{{cite journal|last=Arizpe|first=Lourdes|title=The Rural Exodus in Mexico and Mexican Migration to the United States|journal=International Migration Review|date=Winter 1981|volume=15|issue=4|pages=626–649|jstor=2545516|doi=10.2307/2545516|pmid=12265223}}</ref>

In the 1930s, President [[Lázaro Cárdenas|Cardenas]] implemented a series of agricultural reforms that led to massive redistribution of agricultural land among the rural peasants. Some commentators have subsequently dubbed the period from 1940 to 1965 as the "Golden Era for Mexican Migration."<ref name=Arizpe /> During this period, Mexican agriculture grew at an average rate of 5.7% outpacing the natural increase of 3% of the rural population. Concurrently, government policies favoring industrialization led to a massive increase of industrial jobs in the cities. Statistics compiled in [[Mexico City]] demonstrate this trend with over 1.8 million jobs created over the course of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.<ref name=Arizpe /> Young people with schooling were the segment of population most likely to migrate away from rural life to urban life, attracted by the promise of many jobs and a more modern lifestyle as compared to the conservative conditions in rural villages. Additionally, due to the large demand for new workers, many of these jobs had low entrance requirements that also provided on-site job training opening the avenue for [[human migration|migration]] to many rural residents. From 1940 to about 1965, rural flight occurred in a slow, yet steady pace with both agriculture and industry growing concurrently.<ref name=Arizpe />

However, as government policies increasingly favored industry over agriculture, rural conditions began to deteriorate. In 1957, the Mexican government began to regulate the price of maize through massive imports in order to keep low urban food costs.<ref name=Arizpe /> This regulation severely undercut the market price of [[maize]] lowering the profit margins of small farmers. At the same time, the [[Green Revolution]] had entered into Mexican agriculture. Inspired by the work of [[Norman Borlaug]], farmers that employed hybrid seeds and fertilizer supplements were able to double or even triple their yields per acre.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thurow|first=Roger|title=Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty|year=2009|publisher=PublicAffairs|location=New York, NY|author2=Kilman, Scott }}</ref> Unfortunately, these products came at a relatively high cost, out of the reach of many farmers struggling after the devaluation of the price of maize. The combined effects of the maize price regulation and the Green Revolution was the consolidation of small farms into larger estates.<ref name=Shaw>{{cite journal|last=Shaw|first=R. Paul|title=Land Tenure and the Rural Exodus in Latin America|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|date=October 1974|volume=23|issue=1|pages=123–132|jstor=1153146|doi=10.1086/450773|s2cid=154768869}}</ref> A 1974 study conducted by Osorio concluded that in 1960, about 50.3% of the individual land plots in Mexico contained less than 5 hectares of land. In contrast, the top 0.5% of estates by land spanned 28.3% of all arable land. As many small farmers lost land, they either migrated to the cities or became migrant workers roving from large estate to large estate. Between 1950 and 1970, the proportion of migrant workers increased from 36.7% to 54% of the total population.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Osorio|first=S.R|title=Estructura Agrariay Desarrollo Agricola en Mexico|journal=Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica|year=1974}}</ref> The centralized pattern of industrial development and government policies overwhelmingly favoring industrialization contributed to massive rural flight in Mexico beginning in the late 1960s until the present day.<ref name=Arizpe />

==Consequences of rural flight==
Rural migrants to cities face several challenges that may hinder their quality of life upon moving into urbanized areas. Many migrants do not have the education or skills to acquire decent jobs in cities and are then forced into unstable, low paying jobs. The steady stream of new rural migrants worsens underemployment and unemployment, common among rural migrants. Employers offer lower wages and poorer labor conditions to rural migrants, who must compete with each other for limited jobs, often unaware of their labor rights. Rural migrants often experience poor living conditions as well. Many cities have exploded in population; services and infrastructure, in these cities, are unable to keep up with population growth. Massive influxes in rural population can lead to severe housing shortages, inadequate water and energy supply, and general slum-like conditions throughout cities.<ref name=Weeks /><ref name=Youth />

Additionally, rural migrants often struggle adjusting to city life. In some instances, there are cultural differences between the rural and urban areas of a region. Lost in urban regions, it becomes difficult for them to continue holding onto their cultural traditions. Urban residents may also look down upon these newcomers to the city who are often unaware of city social norms. Both marginalized and separated from their home cultures, migrants face many social challenges when moving to cities.<ref name=Youth />

Women, in particular, face a unique set of challenges. Some women undergo rural flight to escape domestic abuse or forced early marriages. Some parents choose to send women to cities to find jobs in order to send remittances back home. Once in the city, employers may attempt to take advantage of these women preying on their unfamiliarity with labor laws and social networks on which to rely. In the worst of cases, destitution may force women into prostitution, exposing them to social stigma and the risks of sexually transmitted diseases.<ref name=Youth />

==See also==
*[[Counterurbanization]]
*[[Demographic history of the United States]]
*[[Highland Clearances]]
*[[Rural development]]
*[[Rural ghetto]]
*[[Rural sociology]]
*[[Unpromising villages]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* <cite id=refDrage1909>{{cite book |last = Geoffrey Drage |title = Austria-Hungary |edition= 1909 |publisher = J. Murray }} - <small>Total pages: 846 </small></cite>
* <cite id=refKirk1969>{{cite book |last = D. Kirk |title = Europe's Population in the Interwar Years |edition = 1969 |publisher = [[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn = 978-0-677-01560-6 |year = 1969 }} <small>- Total pages: 309 </small></cite>
* <cite id=refMcLeanKromkowski1991>{{cite book | last = George F. McLean, John Kromkowski |title = Urbanization and Values: Volume 5 of Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change |edition = 1991 |publisher = Council for Research in Values and Philosophy |isbn = 978-1-56518-011-6 |year = 1991 }} - <small>Total pages: 380 </small></cite>
* <cite id=refMises2006>{{cite book |last = Ludwig von Mises |title = Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow |edition = when |publisher = [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] |isbn= 978-1-933550-01-5 |date =March 2006 }} - <small>Total pages: 108</small> </cite>
* <cite id=refSchapiroShotwell1922>{{cite book |last = Jacob Salwyn Schapiro, James Thomson Shotwell |title = Modern and Contemporary European History (1815–1922) |edition = 1922 |publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] }} -<small> Total pages: 799 </small></cite>
* <cite id=refShafir1996>{{cite book | last = Gershon Shafir |title = Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914 |edition= 1996 | publisher = [[University of California Press]] |isbn= 978-0-520-20401-0|date =1996-08-19 }} <small>- Total pages: 287 </small></cite>
* Ravenstein, E. G. (1885): "The Laws of Migration", in London: ''[[Journal of the Royal Statistical Society]]'' - vol. 48, nº. June 1885, pp.&nbsp;167–227.
* Ravenstein, E. G. (1889): "The Laws of Migration", in London: ''Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'' - vol. 52, nº. June 1889, pp.&nbsp;241–301.
{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rural Flight}}
[[Category:Urban planning]]
[[Category:Human migration]]
[[Category:Rural community development]]
[[Category:Rural culture]]
[[Category:Demographic economic problems]]
[[Category:Internal migration]]
[[Category:Population geography]]

[[de:Landflucht]]