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Migration from the city to the countryside in Hungary and Poland

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Abstract

After the changes of 1989, urban-to-rural migration in Poland and Hungary remained stable compared to rural-to-urban migration. This was connected to a growing importance of suburbanisation around major Hungarian and Polish cities. Suburban areas around these cities are attracting increasing numbers of migrants from the major cities. Pollution and higher crime rates, as well as rising living costs and increasing uncertainties make many people to decide to leave the city for the surrounding countryside. Not only upper middle-class people move to the suburbs, but also lower status people, for whom life in the big city became too difficult. Long-distance migration from the cities to the rural areas is declining. Economic problems together with low employment opportunities prevent people from making such a move. Though the overall level of urban-to-rural migration did not change too much, this article shows the rapidly increasing importance of suburbanisation.

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  1. Kolpron Consultants BV, Budapest, Hungary

    Herman Kok

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  1. Herman Kok
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Kok, H. Migration from the city to the countryside in Hungary and Poland. GeoJournal 49, 53–62 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007092228633

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