Health and wellbeing in rural areas

Both sparsity and rurality appear to affect poverty levels and consequently the health of people in rural areas.

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Nearly 10 million of our fellow citizens live in areas of England defined as rural. This number is increasing and the population is growing older. Their health is as important to us as the health of the 45 million who live in our cities and large conurbations.

Although many rural areas are, in general, affluent, even wealthy in some cases, this is not true of all rural areas (the ‘north/south divide' can be seen in the countryside as well as in cities). And within even the most affluent areas, there can be real hardship, deprivation, ill health and inequalities. These are some of the issues discussed in this document, produced by the LGA in partnership with PHE.