nature of services

• Key villages have focused services, with good transport links to nearby villages, so that they can provide services to the whole area, which reduces rural depopulation.
• Rural depopulation was causing the loss of services as people moved to the city, but counter urbanisation is bringing services back as the villages increase in size.
• Remote rural areas are losing services due to rural depopulation.
• In LICs and MICs, the nature of services changes as people move rom rural to urban areas:

  • less tax revenue due to a smaller workforce, so basic services are reduced e.g. primary school, transport, health clinics
  • smaller populations contribute fewer votes, so the areas are less important to politicians
  • less pressure on food sources