Rural Development

“Rural” regions are generally defined as sparsely populated areas, or loosely gathered groups of people, outside of a designated city limit.¹ Rural regions are home to the majority of the world’s impoverished population.² In a survey of 105 nations, 85 percent of all individuals who fall under the Multidimensional Poverty Index live in rural regions.³ Many lack access to adequate healthcare, education, clean water or electricity.⁴ There are an estimated 1,214,322 people in poverty in rural areas around the world.⁵ In the United States, 16.7 percent of the rural population fell below the poverty line while just 13 percent of the urban population fell below the poverty line.⁶ Approximately a third of the working poor in rural areas have incomes lower than 50 percent of the poverty line — $12,000 a year for a family of four.⁷