The successive shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine have had severe impacts on OECD rural regions. While rural regions make up approximately 80% of all territory in the OECD, accounting for almost all of the food, water, energy, minerals and other resources needed throughout the economy, they tend to be less diversified and more reliant on tradeable sectors than urban areas, which make them more vulnerable to disruptions in global value chains and increases in commodity prices. These shocks have come in the midst of ongoing structural transformations for rural communities including ageing and population decline as well as the green and digital transitions.

Colombia experienced remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, almost doubling the size of its economy and growing nearly three times faster than the OECD average between 2000 and 2021. This growth helped Colombia record the sixth-highest reduction in regional inequalities in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita among OECD countries between 2008 and 2020. However, despite this progress, regional income inequalities remain the highest across OECD countries in 2020, with rural areas recording the highest monetary and multidimensional poverty rates.

While most of the population in Colombia live in metropolitan regions (57%), the country’s share of the population living in non-metropolitan regions (hereinafter rural regions, 42.1% in 2021) is slightly higher than the OECD average (41.4%) and other OECD Latin American countries, e.g. Chile (30%) and Mexico (34.7%). This OECD regional classification allows determining the level of rurality at the regional scale to better measure socio-economic differences between different types of regions, across and within countries, and to recognise interactions and trends across different urban and rural places within them. The OECD regional classification identifies non-metropolitan Colombian regions (provinces in Colombia) based on density, population thresholds and their level of accessibility to cities (understood as functional urban areas or FUAs). This classification identifies two levels of geographic units within OECD countries: i) large regions (TL2), which represent the first administrative tier of subnational government that in the case of Colombia is departments; and ii) small regions (TL3), which are provinces in the case of Colombia. Rural regions can include towns and small cities that do not belong to an FUA. Both levels of regions encompass the entire national territory. According to this, most Colombian municipalities are classified as rural (88%). For Colombia, it builds on the government’s efforts of territorial categorisation at the sub-regional level. According to OECD classification, the share of Colombian population in rural regions is above the share reported by national classifications that are conducted at the municipal level: 30.4% of rural population in 2021 according to the Mission for the Transformation of the Countryside and 24% according to DANE’s statistical definition. In addition to this OECD regional classification, the OECD also uses a granular territorial methodology to classify local units into cities, towns/semi-dense areas and rural areas: the degree of urbanisation, which was endorsed at the 2020 Statistical Commission of the United Nations (OECD/EC, 2020[16]). The recent OECD National Urban Review of Colombia (2022[15]) used the former classification. Instead, this OECD Rural Review of Colombia uses the regional classification to determine the level of rurality at the regional scale to better recognise interactions and trends across different types of regions in Colombia and urban and rural places within them.

The chapter provides an overview of the main economic, social and environmental trends in Colombian rural regions, setting the basis for policy recommendations in the following chapters. It first revises the classification of rurality in Colombia vis-à-vis the OECD territorial methodology. It then examines the national context under which rural development is taking place, and outlines the main economic and demographic patterns of Colombian rural regions. Finally, it analyses different drivers of well-being for rural regions.

Colombia has untapped growth potential in its rural areas and a holistic rural policy approach can help to mobilise them. This chapter analyses Colombia’s national policy framework for rural development and proposes recommendations to strengthen it. It begins with a short overview of the evolution of rural development policy in Colombia. It then examines the current rural policy approach and the main programmes to improve rural well-being. Finally, it outlines the untapped potential in rural economies and identifies a number of policy actions to improve Colombia’s rural policy, building on the OECD Principles on Rural Policy.

This chapter assesses the main opportunities to improve transport and digital connectivity as well as access to quality education and healthcare in Colombian rural communities. It begins with a brief analysis of the status of transport infrastructure for rural areas in Colombia, with a focus on tertiary roads and mobility. It then expands the analysis on connectivity by identifying the main barriers and opportunities to improving broadband Internet access in rural communities. It ends by outlining the bottlenecks and opportunities to improving rural education and healthcare provision.

This chapter analyses land management in Colombia, with a particular focus on rural, ethnic and environmental issues. It starts by examining the issue of assigning and distributing formal land ownership, followed by an analysis of land use and territorial development planning in rural areas. Then, it explains the land framework of Indigenous and ethnic groups, as well as prior consultation protocols with Indigenous and ethnic groups for projects developed in their territories and that affect them. The last section considers how land can be mobilised to promote nature conservation efforts and associated economic opportunities that include the most socially vulnerable groups.

This chapter focuses on ways to improve the implementation of rural policy in Colombia. It first provides an overview of the main challenges and ongoing transformations that undermine an effective implementation of a comprehensive rural policy approach for Colombia, then it considers the current institutional setting and multi-level governance mechanisms to implement rural policies. The final section highlights five key actions that can help improve the implementation of the rural policy in Colombia.