Rural populations in selected countries.

Rural population estimates.

These rural population numbers are complicated and debatable. It depends on who is doing the counting, how they do it, and when they do it. Rural people and places are incredibly diverse while becoming more mobile.

• The United States is 60 million.
• The United Kingdom 10 million.
• Australia 9 million.
• Canada 6.5 million.
• New Zealand 800,000.

Due to geographic isolation, Australians and rural people in other countries face unique challenges. They often have poorer health and welfare outcomes than those in major cities. Where people live is a critical determinant of how they think, work, and live. Regional areas are still widely regarded as responsible for many country’s core principles and character.

The loss of services may seem trivial to city residents, but for some rural and remote communities, it may cause isolation and a further disconnect from the rest of the country. The gap is growing between urban and rural experiences and perspectives as we continue to urbanise.

However, for every story you hear of ‘failing’ small towns and villages, there are hundreds more meeting the challenges and who will survive and prosper. Their success doesn’t depend on governments or other external support but on the combined focus and efforts of the people who live there.

The bridge between city and country.

This bridge between rural populations and cities carries some common problems. Drug and gambling problems, the scourge of big cities, have migrated to rural areas. Economic issues are also spreading out of city centres as lower-income people have to leave the inner cities because of soaring house prices.

A stark urban/rural divide remains in many regional towns and villages regarding economics and politics. The urban trend of sharing assets such as cars does not exist in regional areas, where exclusive ownership still reigns.

Individuals’ isolation in cities aggravates social media. It replaces human contact, helping to create divisions. Anonymity is fueling the inflammatory rhetoric threatening political debate and community-building activities.

Education, health, and conserving traditions and values are crucial to building acceptance of change. They do this by reducing the essential fear elements of what makes an excellent regional, rural, or remote community unique, which can be so easily lost forever. One thing is sure: electric cars, trucks, and tractors (EVs) are a long way off in the future of regional areas.

Look for the best solutions.

The best solutions for rural populations always seem to come from within the community, particularly when a catalyst. Conserving the past is as important as innovating for the future, even though the latter dominates government agendas.

Quotable Quotes.

“The reason for fasting is to understand the relationship between what’s you and what’s the accumulative body”. Jaggi Vasudev

“The extent to which I have any balance at all and mental stability is because of being a farm kid and being raised in those isolated rural areas”. James Jones