The relationship between urban and rural areas is changing is countries all over the world

II. The United States and Canada 

A. Patterns of Demographic Change 

In their study of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of migration 

streams between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas at four different times between 

1975 and 1993, Fulton et al found three significant shifts in the direction of migration.  

The first occurred during the 1970’s when historical patterns of non-metropolitan loss of 

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human resources were reversed.  During this time urban areas shrank while rural areas 

gained and increased retention of the young and better-educated.  During the 1980s that 

trend reversed itself and there was a net migration loss from rural areas as better educated 

and white collar workers moved to urban areas.  During the 1990s there was a non-

metropolitan net migration gain, with the greatest increases among those higher status 

groups which experienced the greatest decline in the 1980’s. (Fulton et al, 1997)  

Widespread growth in non-metropolitan areas of the United States during the early 1990s 

indicates that the renewed population growth in non-metro areas first noticed in the 1970s 

has not ended.  (Johnson and Beale, 1994)