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Rural Ageing

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging

Definition

Rural ageing refers to the implications of ageing, patterns, processes, and outcomes, in rural contexts. Rural ageing research considers the experiences of those who age in rural environments (and should include the perspectives of older adults themselves) and the implications of rural ageing for rural communities and stakeholders such as service providers.

Overview

Ageing is often cast in a negative light, with older adults portrayed as a burden and a financial drain upon society. However, older adults are often assets to their communities. Studies of rural ageing can cast a critical eye on burden and assetperspectives. Use of a geographical lens allows place-based elements of ageing to highlight unique spatial contexts; for example, population sparsity, distance and remoteness from key service centers, and characteristics of many remote and rural places raise different challenges for older people living in rural areas in comparison with those who live in more densely...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Economic and Geographical Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, UK

    Margaret Currie

  2. Department of Geography and Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Lorna Philip

Authors
  1. Margaret Currie
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  2. Lorna Philip
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Margaret Currie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, UN Dept of Economic Social Affairs Population Division, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

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Currie, M., Philip, L. (2019). Rural Ageing. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_630-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_630-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

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