Rural revival? The rise in internal migration to rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Who moved and Where?



González-Leonardo, Miguel, Rowe, Francisco ORCID: 0000-0003-4137-0246 and Fresolone-Caparrós, Alberto
(2022) Rural revival? The rise in internal migration to rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Who moved and Where? Journal of Rural Studies, 96. pp. 332-342.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.

Abstract

During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, anecdotal evidence of a "rural revival" emerged mirroring the "urban exodus" hypothesis. Currently, we know that internal migration to rural areas increased in some countries during 2020, although not with the intensity speculated by the media. However, little is known about the attributes of rural areas attracting migrants, demographic composition of migration inflows, and if counterurbanisation movements persisted over 2021. Drawing on administrative population register data, we analysed the main types of rural areas pulling internal migrants in Spain and their demographic characteristics, namely age, sex and place of birth during 2020 and 2020, using the period 2016-2019 as a benchmark. Our results show that in-migration increased in rural areas close to cities and with high prevalence of second homes during 2020, while out-migration declined. Exceptionally high inflows persisted over 2021, but outflows converged to figures observed prior to the pandemic. Inflows to rural areas comprised internal migrants across a wide age spectrum, from young adults and families to retired individuals. These flows also comprised foreign-born, particularly populations of a wide age range from Latin American countries.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19, Internal migration, Rural areas, Demographic composition, Foreign-born population
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 02 Dec 2022 10:34
Last Modified: 24 Feb 2023 09:49
DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.11.006
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.11.006
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3166486