Urban and rural classification has gained importance over the past 20 years because of tremendous growth in urban area and migration of population in huge numbers from rural to urban centers. Given below are some of the differences between urban and rural –
- While urban areas are characterized by good infrastructure facilities like good hospitals, good roads, big buildings, 24 hours electricity and so on whereas rural area have few schools, hospitals are small and are at distance, they also face power shortage and lack of good sanitation facilities and so on.
- In urban areas employment opportunities are mainly in manufacturing sector or service sector but in rural areas there is no scope in either of the sector rather rural population is mainly dependent on agriculture sector for their livelihood.
- In urban areas the pollution problem is there in the form of sound pollution, water pollution and air pollution because of industries and automobiles whereas in rural areas environment is clean and pollution free because there are not many industries in rural areas and also automobiles are less as compared to urban areas.
- In urban areas people are very busy and they have social network only on internet and there is negligent personal social network resulting in many youths in urban areas suffering from depression and loneliness whereas in case of rural areas people still maintain social contact and also they have more time because of rural lifestyle and hence they are more friendly and depression related problem are less in such areas.
- In urban centers if you are talented then sky is the limit in terms of your career and financial position as there are plenty of opportunities available for career progression whereas in case of rural area there are limited opportunities and hence if one is looking for money and growth then he or she has to shift to urban center.
- People living in urban areas have different sets of problems like small houses, spending majority of time in commuting, high cost of living and so on whereas people living in rural areas have different set of problems like lack of basic amenities such as quality higher education, better medical facilities, dependence on weather for their livelihood and so on.
As one can see from the above that there are many differences between urban and rural areas, however with the advent of internet and technology these differences are getting blurred in the sense that now whole world is connected and many things which were not possible in the past in rural areas have now become possible due to rapid advancement in technology.