Gokseong-gun Announces Results of the 2nd Return-to-Farming and Rural Migration Survey

Returnees to Farming and Rural Areas Show Highest Satisfaction Rate with Current Residence

[Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-seon] Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, conducted the 2nd Gokseong-gun Return-to-Farming and Rural Migration Survey from May 14 to June 3 and announced the results on November 30.

This survey targeted household heads and household members aged 19 or older who moved to Gokseong-gun within the last three years (2018?2020) for return-to-farming or rural migration.

The Gokseong-gun Return-to-Farming and Rural Migration Survey was first developed and conducted in 2018 as a region-specific statistic, and the second survey was conducted this year on a three-year cycle.

According to the survey results, 662 households comprising 851 residents have moved to and are living in Gokseong over the past three years. Among them, 48.8% responded that they are satisfied with their current residential area.

Among the 662 return-to-farming and rural migration households, 419 were rural migrants and 243 were return-to-farming households. By residential area, 286 households were in the Gokseong area, 144 in the Seokgok area, and 232 in the Ok-gwa area.

Before moving to Gokseong-gun, the previous residences were Gwangju (49.7%), Gyeonggi (11.8%), and Seoul (10.9%) in that order. The most common reason for choosing Gokseong-gun was "because it is their hometown," at 35.7%.

Regarding overall satisfaction with return-to-farming and rural migration, the satisfaction rate was 38.9%, more than three times higher than the dissatisfaction rate of 11.8%. The main reason for satisfaction with the area was "natural environment" at 70.1%, while the main reason for dissatisfaction was "convenience facilities" at 50.6%.

Regarding changes in living conditions, 35.6% responded that conditions have improved, about twice as high as the 18.6% who said conditions worsened, indicating that living conditions have improved due to return-to-farming and rural migration.

Additionally, among return-to-farming households, 49% were full-time farmers, while the rest were part-time farmers engaged in non-agricultural economic activities due to insufficient income or social life reasons.

A county official stated, "This survey has provided very important basic data to evaluate the achievements of our county's return-to-farming and rural migration policies so far and to establish future policies." He added, "In particular, comparing and analyzing the results with the first survey conducted in 2018 will greatly help understand the changes in returnees and migrants and set future development directions."

Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-seon cha6960@asiae.co.kr