Each issue of Rural 21 focuses on one topical theme. International authors explore the subject from different angles.
 
Focal themes for 2010 are:
- Foreign direct investment/land grabbing (2010/1)
- Innovations for sustainable development (2010/2)
- Rural youth - stay or leave? (2010/3)
- Microinsurance in rural areas (2010/4)
- Rural development and MDGs (2010/5)
- Energy and climate change (2010/6)

Rural 21 puts the sectoral interplay in rural areas in its wider setting and provides decision-makers and experts with knowhow and knowledge about innovations. This is how Rural 21 gives impulses for the promotion and development of rural areas.