ABSTRACT
It is increasingly acknowledged that the preferences and propensities for living in, or moving from, rural settings vary across the life course. These reflect the complex interplay between economic, cultural, social and lifestyle factors evident in several life domains (work, family, health, leisure), which in turn give rise to complex sets of competing influences, considerations and motivations that cut across life course stages and transitions. There is, therefore, an emerging interest in how life events (such as education, employment, family formation, empty nest, retirement, widowhood, increasing frailty or ill health) intersect with different rural migration flows and processes. In this chapter we adopt such an approach. We begin by conceptualising migration and the life course, before progressing to use a life course lens to review contemporary rural migration processes. Finally, the chapter concludes by highlighting the value of a life course approach to better understand the dynamics of contemporary rural migration processes and change.
