Our statutory purpose is to promote awareness of the social and economic needs of people who live and work in rural areas and help decision-makers across and beyond government identify how those needs can best be addressed. More…

› 9.8 million people lived in rural England in 2008.

› In 2009, 808,600 rural households live more than 2km from a Post Office.

› The average rural house cost 6.8 times the average annual rural household income in 2007.

› Approximately 700,000 rural households lived below the poverty line in 2007/08.

› 743,000 rural households lived in fuel poverty in 2007.

(Taken from 10 Big Numbers.)