Abstract
Under the background of urban–rural integration, balanced development between urban and rural areas has been increasingly advocated. Rural population loss (RPL) is not only due to the laws of social and economic development but also the comprehensive action of natural, social, and economic factors. Taking 774 administrative villages in Laiyang County, which is in a hilly region, as our research area, we comprehensively used spatial analysis and geographic detectors to explore the spatial characteristics and driving factors of RPL, which was significantly correlated with rural planning. The research demonstrated that: (1) The rural population in Laiyang County generally had a low level of RPL (1.9%), but each village varied greatly. The village with the greatest RPL had a rate of 56%. The RPL between urban and rural areas, towns and streets, and villages and villages were unbalanced, and rural population flow mainly occurred between urban and rural areas. (2) RPL in Laiyang County was generally low in the central urban area and high in the northern and southern areas. Population loss presents agglomeration globally and high–low agglomeration locally. (3) The distance from village to county, elevation, cultivated land quantity, collective economic income, village area, and ecological service value were the key factors influencing RPL in Laiyang County. When comparing the dominant factors, the interaction between collective income and elevation was the strongest. Exploring the spatial characteristics and influencing factors of RPL provided us with ideas for the classified promotion of rural revitalization, preparation of rural development planning, and promotion of the integrated development of urban and rural areas.
Highlights
Human migration, a demographically geographic phenomenon, is defined as the movement of people from one place to another, permanently or temporarily, and often includes immigration and emigration, caused by natural hazards, infectious diseases, civil disturbance, better living conditions, or healthcare needs
The rate of rural population loss (RPL) in Laiyang County was 1.7%, and that of the whole rural population was 1.9%, which was a low level on the whole
We can draw the conclusion that the RPL in Laiyang County was mainly caused by internal flow between urban and rural areas
Summary
A demographically geographic phenomenon, is defined as the movement of people from one place to another, permanently or temporarily, and often includes immigration and emigration, caused by natural hazards, infectious diseases, civil disturbance, better living conditions, or healthcare needs. Since the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization, industrial agglomeration tends to bring about population decrease in many non-metropolitan counties, especially in rural areas, as has happened in many developed countries such as the United States of America [1] and most of Europe [2], as well as in developing countries and regions such as China, India, and Brazil [3]. It causes many problems such as rural poverty, farmland abandonment, food insecurity, and an aging rural population, which are receiving the attention of the international community.
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