The Impact of Regional Issues on Depopulated Areas: Case Study of Collaborative Education Models

This study investigates regional challenges and their impacts in depopulated areas. The analysis reveals that the current and future challenges in depopulated areas stem from population decline and aging. By using co-occurrence network diagrams, it was possible to understand the themes, topics, and context of the text data. In particular, concerns were revealed about aging and declining birthrates among both younger and older age groups. Furthermore, the relationships between age groups, gender, and experience in local regional positions were examined and, showed an increase in male position holders among the elderly, while a decrease was observed among women. In future, to achieve regional sustainable development goals (SDGs), it is important to actively promote women’s participation in regional societies from the perspective of gender equality.