rural exodus
Leaving the farmland
Rural exodus is the large-scale migration of people from the countryside to cities, typically driven by industrialization, declining agricultural employment, or the pursuit of economic opportunity.
The phrase emphasizes the departure rather than the destination: The rural exodus transformed farming communities into ghost towns.
Also called rural flight.
- depopulationLoss of inhabitants
- ghost townsDepopulated former communities
- small townModest rural settlement
- emigrationLeaving homeland permanently
- urbanizationPopulation shift toward cities
bright lights · greener pastures · labor shortages · overcrowding · unemployment · displacement · mechanization · generational shifts · empty nest · family separation · poverty · cultural adaptation · diaspora · infrastructure investment · climate change · job creation · tractors · farm life
- rural declinedepopulation, brain drain, outmigration, dying towns, ghost towns
- urbanizationcity, urban growth, metropolis, urban sprawl, suburbanization
- depopulationpopulation loss, emptying, hollowing out, emigration, outflow
- Saskatchewan HistorySaskatoon, NDP, grain elevators, homesteading, prairie settlement
- agriculturefarms, crops, farm, farmers, farming
- demographicspopulation density, population growth, age distribution, population, gender ratio
rural exodusurban exodus
Migration away from cities
urban flight · ruralization · reverse migration · white flight · suburbanization