Rural population density: its impact on social and demographic aspects of rural communities

Rural Population Density Effect on Socio-economic Characteristics: A Review

“…In their survey, they found that the rural population density serves to form good indicators of the demographic and socio-economic structure of a rural community and subsequently they framed the following hypotheses: a) Low rural population density is correlated with greater spatial dimensions of the rural communities, with a greater distance between the neighboring towns and this forms the basic concept within the central place theory, the general truth can be seen by looking at any road map or topographical maps (Smailes et al, 2002) b) The higher spatial dimensions of the local social systems within less dense areas compensate partly for the low population density. Thus, the lower rural population density, will implicate smaller total population size of the communities (ibid).…”

“…Areas having higher populations and with better services amenities are more likely to attract the migrant population thus giving rise to situation where many of the local people may remain unemployed. g) In areas of low rural density the masculinity ratio of the population (males per 100 females) will tend to be high" (Smailes et al, 2002).…”

“…Negative correlations were found with the number of people working within the primary industry, spatial area of the rural community, the masculinity proportion and the fertility ratio. The authors additionally found in their researches conducted mainly in the Australian context that rural population density remains correlated at a significance of 0.01 levels with the aforementioned variables, along with factors like youth dependency factor, unemployment proportions and ratio of the population below 15 years of age (Smailes et al, 2002).…”

“…Population density (rural and urban) is influenced by certain factors, like the, available environmental resources in a particular area, the time and form of colonization, which are transient in nature and tend to keep on changing over the years Irving and Davidson, 1972. Rural population density has a significant amount of influence over the socio-economic characteristics of rural communities, which is on one hand a persistent process occurring through a long period over the years and on the other hand it is also ongoing process taking place at the present moment. Unlike urban size, rural density takes a direct measure of the rural community's living size and space, the habitability of the physical environment where it is located and the potential cost of transport for service delivery and other measures of maintaining contact and personal interaction between the rural people (Smailes et al, 2002). In Australia, researchers have shown that the besides the aforementioned factors rural density can be also corelated with 'age and maturity' of the rural community's tradition and culture, the kind of farming practice followed, size of the farms, amongst various other factors (Holmes, 1981).…”

“…Thus, we find that to comprehend the conditions within the rural communities it is essential to integrate socio economic aspects within the rural studies, as it would give a more holistic approach to the study of the entire rural scenario Rural population density also influences the markets for entrepreneurs and the chances for earning from doing study other than farming. In their research study, Smailes et al (2002) theorized an original relationship between rural density, which is an independent variable and other characteristics of the rural communities, which are the dependent variables. In their study, the authors found positive correlation between the rural population density and the total population; the mobility rate of the community members; industrial workforce and ratio of non-native population.…”