There are marked differences between rural and urban dwellers in NI across a range of economic and social indicators, a report published by DAERA shows.

The document states that 75% of the working age population in rural areas is in employment, compared to 67% in urban areas, and of these, 84% of rural workers have high job satisfaction compared to 78% of urban workers.

Businesses in urban areas in NI are spread across a wide range of sectors, whereas 41% of rural businesses are related to agriculture, forestry or fishing, and 16% are in construction.

The DAERA report shows that the level of educational achievement between adult populations in urban and rural areas is similar.

However, young people in rural areas tend to be more academically successful.

The statistics show that 74% of school pupils from rural areas achieve at least five GCSEs, compared to 66% in urban areas. Also, 47% of rural school leavers go on to higher education, whereas only 41% of young people in urban areas study at degree level after leaving school.

Crime

All measures of crime in the DAERA report are lower in rural areas and survey results indicate that rural dwellers have higher levels of life satisfaction, happiness and health than their urban counterparts.

The suicide rate in rural areas in NI stands at 11 per 100,000 but it is 20 per 100,000 in urban areas. Life expectancy is higher in rural areas at 80.3 for men and 83.7 for women, compared to 77.2 and 81.6 in urban areas respectively.

Salaries

However, the report highlights some disadvantages for those living in rural areas, with wages tending to be lower, and the cost of living higher. The median salary in rural areas stands at £20,030, which is 9% lower than the urban median of £22,089.

Access to services, such as public transport, is worse in rural areas. The survey shows that on average, urban dwellers in NI are a 13-minute car journey away from an accident and emergency hospital, whereas rural dwellers who live more than an hour from Belfast are 26 minutes away.

Also, the average internet download speed in NI is 49Mbits/s in urban areas and 29Mbits/s in rural areas, with 17% of rural premises unable to access broadband speeds of at least 10Mbit/s – no urban premises have this issue.

Definition

Areas of open countryside and settlements with less than 5,000 people are defined as rural areas in the DAERA report. The latest figures show that 36% of the NI population lived in rural areas in 2017, which is up from 34% in 2001.

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