The Rural-Urban divide is a crucial factor as the lifestyles differ from each other in terms of livelihood and social conditions. For instance, the age-sex-occupational structure, density of population and level of development vary between rural and urban areas. Thus, the rural-urban balance is an important factor in explaining the population composition of any region. Each country has slightly different criteria for differentiating rural and urban populations. Generally, rural areas are those where people are engaged in primary activities and urban areas are those when the majority of the working population is engaged in non-primary activities.

In Western countries, males outnumber females in rural areas and females outnumber males in urban areas. These countries have a high influx of females from rural areas to avail the vase job opportunities, and farming is highly mechanised and largely male-dominated.

In contrast, sex ration in Asia urban areas remains largely male dominant due to the predominance of male migration. Moreover, female participation in the farming activity is high and shortage of housing, high cost of living, the paucity of job opportunities and lack of security in cities, discourage women from migrating from rural to urban areas.