While provincial towns were once vibrant and growing places, these days many appear to be dying as community move to the city in search of work and excitement. In this essay, I intend to discuss the impact of this problem as well as how more folk could be encouraged to live in the rural areas. Surprisingly, the most serious consequences of rural depopulation are often felt in urban areas. As a result of overcrowding, cities throughout the world today are increasingly prone to environment problems like air, water and noise pollution. Beijing is a particularly good example of this. Further, the uncontrolled growth of cities also gives rise to social problems such as high unemployment, crime and in less affluent countries, the creation of slums. Clearly, there is a limit to how many people can live in one area before living standards are negatively influenced. In order to stem the tide of rural depopulation, I believe we must first address its root causes. At the heart of the matter is...