Every individual, at least at some point, makes a choice between living in a city or countryside. Often, a person who lived in the city may find it difficult to adjust to the country living, and vice versa.
Though rural and urban areas differ in terms of standard of living and diversity, they are generally similar in terms of human interaction. Nowadays, the gap between the urban and the rural lifestyle is considerably narrowed due to the development of the economy, technology, and urbanization. Both the rural and urban societies have poor and rich people. Moreover, their infrastructure has a lot in common such as recreation, workplace, and educational facilities. More or less, these both areas have harsh living conditions and crime rate (Stanley).
The standard of living is one of the key elements that makes difference between the rural and urban lifestyles. The urban areas offer a diversity of choices. People have a number of choices that incorporate food, transportation, education, and entertainment. For instance, one is more likely to be able to find a vast variety of food supplies due to the availability of multinational restaurants and retail shops, which lead to a greater diversity in diet. Moreover, parents have a number of choices available for the education of their children, which leads to the potentially better quality of education in comparison to the rural areas. Diversity in social life in urban areas provides more opportunities to the people to be more culturally aware as people encounter members of other classes, races, and ethnic groups. Comparing to people in the rural areas, people that live in cities have a possibility to access a better healthcare system. Apart from this, the urban areas offer residents the possibility to choose from a range of employment options as more and more companies offer a significant number of workplaces (Smith). In contrast, people in the rural areas have a limited source of income, mainly through farming, labor work. Poverty is the main issue in the rural areas.
Despite the lack of diversity and choices, there is a number of positive aspects of living in rural areas in terms of quality of life. For instance, the environment in the rural areas is peaceful and not as contaminated as it is in cities. People are closer to the natural and healthy environment and do not have to fight with the daily stresses of urban areas such as traffic, pollution, noise, and crowds. Such absence of triggers of stress is the main cause of rare mental problems among the people of the rural areas. Furthermore, people have a smaller possibility to suffer from obesity and other health problems in comparison with the people that live in cities. This can be the result of less reliance on vehicles and greater emphasis on walking. In addition, the availability of fresh vegetables, fruits and grain also plays a significant role. Although the urban population has higher numbers of social networks, the small population of the rural areas causes long-lasting and more quality relationships in the society since people are seeing each other more frequently (Smith). Finally, the cost of living in rural areas is quite low comparing to the urban districts.
In conclusion, the living standard, educational and entertainment opportunities, higher employment chances are different in both, rural and urban areas. However, both areas possess some drawbacks too. A person can prefer to live in urban or rural areas according to personal thoughts, taste and interests.
Works Cited:
- Smith, Nicole. "Compare / Contrast On Rural Versus Urban Living." Article Myriad. 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
- Stanley. "10 Similarities between Rural Society and Urban Society." Language Arts Blog. 8 May, 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
