Rural life and population in context of sustainability: The case of Tokat

This research was conducted to determine the sustainability of population and living conditions in rural areas and the relationship between these concepts and the obstacles to rural development. The data used in the study were obtained in four stages. The data collection process of the research started with the creation of a data set based on statistical records of 613 villages in Tokat province, continued with face-to-face interviews with 600 village mukhtars, surveys with 315 households in 15 villages and ended with a focus group interview with the mukhtars. The data obtained were evaluated with descriptive statistics, frequency tables, ratings, chi-square, binary logistic regression and content analysis. Population statistics show that approximately 80.0% (78.8%) of the villages in Tokat province decreased in the period between 2007 and 2022. The village score, which is calculated by scoring the infrastructure facilities, educational facilities and mukhtar interviews dataset, indicates that living conditions in villages are low. In the study, it was determined that the average age of village mukhtars in Tokat was 52.9 years and that mukhtars were generally individuals over the age of 50. 70.0% of the villages are more than 50 km away from the city center. Village households are generally middle-income. According to the assessments of the muhtars, the most important developments in the villages in the 16-year period (2007-2022) have been in the level of non-agricultural earnings and use of technology in agriculture. According to the results of the chi-square analysis, there is a significant relationship between population changes and the village's distance to the provincial center, geographical location, farming rate, non-agricultural occupation rate and village score. It has been determined that the villages at the farthest distance from the provincial center have severe migration, and although the number of villages with migration at the closest distance to the provincial center is high, migration has not reached severe levels in these villages. The proportion of farming families is higher in declining and severely declining villages. Non-agricultural workers are concentrated in villages with severe decline. The number of villages with non-agricultural occupational workers in villages with severe increase is small. It has been determined that villages with high village scores experience migration in the form of more reasonable decreases, and severe migration movements are not observed. It was found that there is a negative relationship between village score height and population growth. The average age in rural areas is 55.7 years. According to the village household surveys, 95.9% of individuals prefer to live in the village and 4.1% prefer to live in the city. While 87.6% of the participants stated that they liked farming, 28.9% thought that they were successful in agricultural production. According to the rural population, the primary reason for migration to urban areas is not having enough land to make a living. According to the results of binary logistic regression (binary logit) analysis, the most important factor affecting the tendency to migrate from rural to urban areas is the feelings and thoughts that the individual has while continuing to live in the village. Based on the focus group interview with the mukhtar, it can be said that migration from villages accelerated in the 1990s due to reasons such as unemployment and the closure of village schools. Muhtars stated that there is a population loss in rural areas that threatens agriculture. In the process of solving the migration phenomenon, it has been concluded that in addition to the basic problems that apply to the majority of rural areas, it is necessary to examine, evaluate and identify problems on a village basis and seek solutions on this basis.