Desirable rural life with an emphasis on rural community wellbeing

The components of a desirable rural life affect each other. In the present paper a desirable life is considered as a combination of four components of wellbeing, healthy local community, vitality and viability in a rural community. However, this paper tries to highlight the rural communities’ well-being that includes the components of a desirable rural life. Accordingly, it is argued that how much the location and life of a person enjoys well-being. In this paper, first the welfare and wellbeing of rural communities are defined and described. Then, in order to identify the indicators and dimensions of rural communities well-being, analytical and evaluative approaches are discussed. The final section of this paper includes two parts. In the first part, considering the discussed measurement and analytical approaches, a model has been developed to review and assess the indicators of rural well-being. These indicators and variables of well-being involve in two individual and community (rural) levels. In addition, all indicators in individual and community levels have been put in three general dimensions of social, economic, and environmental and health. In the second part, some indicators of wellbeing in urban and rural areas of Iran have been studied. These comparisons show that the level of well-being in rural communities of Iran is less than that of urban communities and this is one the reasons that cause the rural areas to lose their attractions. Finally, this issue can be a threat to rural stability and sustainability in Iran.