Historically, little has been written or researched about British rural youth. Since the late 1970s, however, largely as a result of initiatives within the Youth Service, rural youth have become identified as a separate, definable area of concern and study. The present trend toward high unemployment is hitting young people particularly hard, especially in rural areas where population growth is imposing additional pressures. Rural girls are not signing up as unemployed but are being kept at home to help with domestic work so that boys can get first choice of available jobs. Declining public transport combined with dispersal of resources leads to real problems of diminished accessibility in domestic life, work prospects, and cultural or recreational facilities. Particularly at the secondary level there are disadvantages with rural schooling; distances between home and school make the link between difficult to maintain, it is harder for rural teachers to partake of in-service training, and a school based on bus time tables prevents, or at best seriously limits, opportunities for extra-curricular activities. There is need for much greater research into conditions, needs, and aspirations of rural youth as a special group facing problems in an urbanised society. (BRR)