Measuring and Making Sense of Rurality in the Contemporary Development

Rurality is a territorial, not a sectorial concept. In many countries ? including Brazil ? rural areas are defined in such a way that they are automatically associated with deprivation and precariousness. This association is not supported by international experience: it is not necessary that territories which are not densely inhabited become abandoned. Based on recent international literature, the current work points out, first of all, the limitations of the prevalent definitions of rural areas ? the Brazilian definition included. Secondly, it defines the importance of rurality to contemporary societies, and finally it studies new statistical methods for defining rurality (where the relationships with cities and towns play a major role) in the United States, France and other OECD countries. This paper is related to a larger research about migratory patterns in Brazilian society. It concludes by stressing the necessity for testing new methods in the definition of rural areas