by Terry L. Besser
Assistant professor and extension sociologist
Iowa State University Extension to Communities
Iowa has the distinction of ranking number one among all states in the percentage of our citizens who are over 80 years old. We rank third in the percentage of our population over 65.
Is Iowa graying because we live longer than people in other states? No. Is it caused by Iowa families having fewer babies to swell the ranks of the young and balance the number of older residents? No. The birth rate in Iowa is not significantly different from other midwestern states.
The primary explanation for the relatively large percentage of older Iowans, as you probably know, is the exodus of young adults from the state. In addition, within the state, young adults move from rural areas to urban ones, making the rural populations older on the average than the populations of urban areas. The movement of young people from farms and small towns to cities is happening all over the United States. Iowa has a preponderance of small towns, so we are affected on the whole more than most states.
Overall, young adults in the United States are a restless lot. According to a study published in the "Rural Development Perspectives" (October 1995), all areas, rural and urban alike, experience outmigration of offspring between the ages of 20 and 34. Many young people leave to attend post-secondary educational institutions, enter the military, take jobs, start families, or see if life really is better someplace else. Urban areas offer more educational and job opportunities than rural places and thus, young people from rural areas and other urban centers migrate in at the same time that local youth migrate out. Therefore, even though their own offspring may be somewhere else, urban places as a whole, do not experience a net loss of young people.
It would be a mistake to think that all young people leave their hometowns, however. One major difference between those who remain and those who leave is educational attainment. As a general rule, any amount of post high school education serves as a one-way ticket out of town for the student.
Other college-experienced people move into the area. Even so, in nonmetro communities, the number is not enough to make up for those who leave. The net loss to nonmetro areas of 20 to 34 year olds who have attended a post secondary institution is approximately 11 percent. On the other hand, as the table below shows, nonmetro areas actually realize a net gain of young people who did not finish high school. Among high school graduates, inmigration and outmigration in rural areas are almost equal, with a net loss of only 1 percent.
After age 29, people begin to settle down. Some move back to their home town, or to someplace close by. Rural and urban areas alike hold their own with people older than 29, balancing outmigration and inmigration. In fact, nonmetro areas actually realize a net gain from new migrants who are 45 to 70 years old.
Two important facts emerge from this analysis with implications for rural communities. First, young people are going to move around. The key to population stability or growth lies not in retaining young people as they leave high school, but in recapturing them at a later stage in life.
Second, the net loss of better educated young people represents a challenge and an opportunity to nonmetro areas. Many analysts of this situation lament the loss of "the most gifted" young, calling it a "brain drain" from rural to urban areas. The assumption which underlies this conclusion, that education equals ability, is not necessarily true, however.
Some less educated are at least as capable as college attendees, but lack academic motivation and/or have fewer opportunities and resources. As people mature they often realize the importance of training, personal development and education. Adult responsibilities, however, prevents them from moving to attend a college. Therefore, it is critical that nonmetro areas find ways to offer a broad array of adult education opportunities, including college level classes, skill training and personal development courses in order to develop their existing human resource base.
The Iowa Communications Network and new computer technology hold the promise of educational and informational resources available to communities regardless of their proximity to metro areas. Of course, communities also can use old-fashioned correspondence courses and recruit the active involvement of local public school personnel for ideas and assistance to meet the educational needs of the adult non-metro population. Going even further with that idea, as rural schools experience declining enrollment of children, perhaps the community could expand the school's mission to include partial responsibility for the adult education needs of the community.
Contacts:
Terry L. Besser, ISU
Extension Sociology, (515) 294-6508
Del Marks, ISU Extension
Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807
