Measuring the Sustainable Rural Development: A Bibliometric Survey

ABSTRACT Sustainable rural development is important as the rural areas provide important contributions to both agrifood production and urban economies. The multi‐dimensionality of the issue calls for inclusion of multiple measures (indicators) in the relevant analysis. This paper embarks on bibliometric analysis to identify the key trends in the measurement of sustainable rural development. The results suggest that sustainable rural development is related to such issues as economic development, health, demographics, environmental situation circularity, income, and diversification. These indicators are also dependent on the level of aggregation (e.g., community, municipality, country). The data sources relevant to the measures of the sustainable rural development are discussed in the case of the European Union. The results may also guide researchers and policy makers in other regions when establishing indicator systems for measurement of the sustainable rural development.