The predominant theories in rural population research are largely rooted in counter‐urbanisation contexts, and it seems that the academic and political thinking about rurality is influenced by these ideas in countries beyond those actually experiencing counter‐urbanisation. One outcome of this research is the construction of rural in‐migration as mainly related to a desire for a rural lifestyle. This paper illustrates in two ways that such representations are not suitable for understanding migration into rural Norway. Firstly, longitudinal data confirm that urban–rural migrations do not increase but encompass a minimal and steady share of the rural population. Secondly, survey data suggest that rural in‐migrants are more likely to be motivated by family relations and economic concerns than that by anti‐urban preferences for rural living. Migrants moving into the metropolitan fringes, however, are better fit for the motivation structure indicated by the prevailing models of counter‐urbanisation. Thus, the paper adds further context to the largely British counter‐urbanisation narrative and cautions researchers of population change in remote rural areas about using conceptualisations originating in the core regions of Europe and America.

While the Nordic literature on rural migration and gender relations has usually focused on the push effects of a patriarchal or traditional gender culture on out-migration of women, this article centres on the conjoint way in which regional gender contracts and female in-migration shape one another. On the basis of survey data of women who migrated into Valdres, a rural area in Norway, as well as interview material, three ideal types of rural gender contracts are identified: traditional, modern and alternative. It is further demonstrated that women living by a traditional gender contract are more often attracted to Valdres than women living by modern and alternative gender contracts, and seemingly also tend to stay for a longer period of time. With the help of Halfacree's model of rural space, it is argued that the in-migration of women serves just as much to sustain the region's traditional gender contract as to challenge it.

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