Explaining the Consequences of Agricultural Land-Use Change on Demographic Changes in Rural Areas (Case Study: Sari, Mazandaran Province)

Agricultural land-use changes are considered as one of the undesirable phenomena indicating the greedy nature of humans. One of the most important consequences of this undesirable change is disorder in the livelihoods and income of local residents and the occurrence of population movements. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to investigate the consequence of agricultural land-use change on the demographic changes in rural areas of Sari city. The method of this study is descriptive-analytical and library and survey methods were used to collect data. The statistical population of the study was 25 villages, which were selected by random quota sampling and according to Cochran formula, 381 families were selected as sample size. The results of the analysis showed that in the last decade, agricultural lands has been decreased by 6% in the studied villages. It has had a great impact on the rural population dynamics. In villages near to the city and the sea due to their proximity to Sari city and having more job opportunities and benefiting from services and infrastructure an increase in population density has occurred, while in remote villages due to lack of access and unfavorable services and facilities, and value added of agricultural land-use change population decline has occurred.