Universal service funds (USF) are set up by levies on telecoms in individual countries, which are then used to increase consumer access based on criteria such as income distribution, rural and urban population ratios, literacy and geography.

BBC: Rural and poor mobile access funds 'not being spent'

It suggests that, even though much of the country is cut off from the food-distribution system, rural dwellers survive precariously through subsistence farming.

ECONOMIST: Food and stability in North Korea

Mr Hogg added that he was looking at the "policing model" and the distribution of officers between rural, urban and coastal areas of the two counties and Isles of Scilly.

BBC: PCC Tony Hogg

We use a field-tested methodology with our clients that is supported by a proprietary analytic model for forecasting population and income distribution annually through 2020 in urban and rural China.

FORBES: Unlocking China's Consumer Power

That is the more populated side: the food-distribution system works better there than in the rural north and east.

ECONOMIST: Food and stability in North Korea