What did we do?

• Reviewed Nordic and international literature on rural service provisions published in journals and by research institutions, public authorities, and civic society organisations to assess and address the first research question: What are the service needs, now and in the future in Nordic rural and sparsely populated areas?

• Performed a policy review of Nordic national rural and regional service priorities in the five Nordic countries and three autonomous territories. The policy analyses were made through reviewing the current national rural and/or regional policies that present the priorities for rural service provision. This enabled the review to focus on how rural policy can enhance the work on service provision and addressed the second research question: How to provide people in rural areas with good, place-based services? This was presented and expanded on in a workshop attended by Nordic stakeholders in 2021.

• Analysed accessibility based on georeferenced statistics to create a knowledge overview to use as a foundation for case-study work. As a starting point for the identification of potential case study regions, accessibility to the four service areas of grocery stores, pharmacies, libraries, and educational facilities was analysed in relation to rural population density.

• Performed case studies in all five Nordic countries and the three autonomous regions in 2022. This entailed 56 interviews and dialogues with different actors in the field. The case studies looked closely at the challenges and opportunities presented in previous parts of the research. The aim was both to verify the previous findings, and identify possible services considered “essential”, but which had not been identified in previous parts of the research. The case studies investigated the third research question: What are the key challenges and opportunities for secure and safe service provision in rural and sparsely populated areas across the Nordic Region?

• Hosted a workshop in 2023 where results from the previous activities were presented and discussed. The workshop also contributed to prioritise and develop the policy recommendations presented in this publication. The recommendations are divided into suggestions for policy makers at the national and at the regional/local level. These recommendations are based on the research results and were discussed, prioritised and developed further in workshops with relevant stakeholders from the different Nordic regions.