Increase in Mobility and Migration between Urban and Rural Areas in EU

Abstract

Since the 1990s, with the formation of the Single Market and the increase in the number of member states in the EU, social change has replaced natural change as the major contributor to demographic change in individual regions in the EU. Population flows that bring about social changes take place at various scales, and these changes are shaping and changing the character of today's urban as well as rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the actual situation of population flows between urban and rural areas, focusing on migration to rural areas.