Rural revival? The rise in internal migration to rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Who moved and Where?

During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, anecdotal evidence of a rural revival emerged mirroring the urban exodus hypothesis. Currently, we know that internal migration to rural areas increased in some countries during 2020, although not with the intensity speculated by the media. However, little is known about the at-tributes of rural areas attracting migrants, demographic composition of migration inflows, and if counter -urbanisation movements persisted over 2021. Drawing on administrative population register data, we analysed the main types of rural areas pulling internal migrants in Spain and their demographic characteristics, namely age, sex and place of birth during 2020 and 2021, using the period 2016-2019 as a benchmark. Our results show that in-migration increased in rural areas close to cities and with high prevalence of second homes during 2020, while out-migration declined. Exceptionally high inflows persisted over 2021, but outflows converged to figures observed prior to the pandemic. Inflows to rural areas comprised internal migrants across a wide age spectrum, from young adults and families to retired individuals. These flows also comprised the foreign-born, particularly populations of a wide age range from Latin American countries.

Automated summary

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in internal migration to rural areas, particularly in rural areas close to cities and with a high prevalence of second homes. These migrants include individuals of all age groups and foreign-born populations.