What is driving the abandonment of villages in the mountains of Southeast China?

Abstract

In recent decades, village abandonment as a result of migration from rural areas constitutes a serious socioeconomic problem in China and many other developing countries. The aim of this study is to identify the drivers of village abandonment in the mountain areas of Southeast China. Pucheng County was selected as the study case. A conceptual framework for the primary drivers of village abandonment was established to link rural depopulation, farmland abandonment, and house abandonment, which are three integral parts of village abandonment. Results show that the intense rural–urban migration propelled by new urban economic opportunities is the most significant driver of sparse rural population distribution, though this does not usually result in the straightforward abandonment of villages. Instead, the scarcity of public services in mountain villages is a decisive factor in local resettlement and resultant village abandonment. Limited school access and a demand for high-quality education is the foremost and most immediate motivation for rural–town migration and resettlement in townships, which directly leads to the substantial abandonment of mountain settlements. Additionally, isolation, higher transportation costs, and non-viability of traditional subsistence agriculture are minor drivers that are interwoven, aggravating the abandonment of remote villages. Our study highlights the aggregated characteristics of village abandonment and heterogeneity of rural migration and its corresponding primary drivers. These findings will have significant policy implications for decision makers by helping to identify areas with a high probability of village abandonment and predict the future magnitude of intra-county migration and subsequent in situ urbanization.