Upgrading rural to urban areas and its effects on Social development indicators: The case of Sistan Region

The aim of this study was to investigate upgrading rural to urban areas and its effects on social development indicators the Sistan Region. A causal-comparative research method was used for this purpose. Research instrument was a pre- structured questionnaire. The research population consisted of 2,851 households from different districts of Sistan Region which a sample of 333 heads of households obtained through stratified random sampling technique. The validity of the questionnaire was verified using face validity procedure and its reliability was also calculated between 0.81 and 0.91 using Chronbach's Alpha Internal Consistency Coefficient. Moreover, some analysis techniques such as paired t- test, independent t- test and covariance were used to analyze data. The results showed that social development indicators have declined during the last five years in both rural and urban areas. Furthermore, there was no positive and significant relationship between upgrading rural to urban areas in one hand and promoting social development indicators in the other hand.