Skip to main content
European Union flag
EnglishEnglish
Rural Vision
  • News article
  • 30 January 2023
  • Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, Eurostat
  • 1 min read

Why would I live in a rural area?

Did you know that in 2020, approximately 1 in 10 persons (10.5%) living in rural areas of the EU stated that they suffered from noise?

But even much higher figures were recorded for people living in towns and suburbs (16.3%) and in cities (23.9%). Noise pollution is a major environmental concern affecting the health and well-being of people in the EU. It impacts their stress levels, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular and metabolic system, and causes cognitive impairment in children. Take a look at the infographic to see what other benefits there are in living in EU’s rural areas!

Graph from "Rural Europe" about perceived benefits of living in the EU's rural areas

This infographic is from Urban-rural Europe - quality of life in rural areas - Statistics Explained (europa.eu), where the statistics explained article seeks to identify the benefits and challenges of living in rural areas. If you wish to see country specific details, please check out Figure 14 (with a drop down menu) in the link.

You can find more data on accessibility, personal well-being, health indicators, but also on the attractiveness of rural regions and areas via graphs, charts, innovative gridded maps and interactive figures.