Agenda 21 Rural America Is Losing

News from The Associated Press

By HOPE YEN Associated Press

AP Photo/Ed Andrieski US Video Advertisement Census Interactives Poverty and Income Rates Nationwide: Released 8/28/07 How Average is Your State? Look at the Latest Census Figures Latest News Rural US disappearing? Population share hits low Wealth gap widens between whites, minorities Buy AP Photo Reprints WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rural America now accounts for just 16 percent of the nation's population, the lowest ever. The latest 2010 census numbers hint at an emerging America where, by midcentury, city boundaries become indistinct and rural areas grow ever less relevant. Many communities could shrink to virtual ghost towns as they shutter businesses and close down schools, demographers say. More metro areas are booming into sprawling megalopolises. Barring fresh investment that could bring jobs, however, large swaths of the Great Plains and Appalachia, along with parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and North Texas, could face significant population declines. These places posted some of the biggest losses over the past decade as young adults left and the people who stayed got older, moving past childbearing years.