Canberra, Sep 17 (TIWN) A survey released on Friday showed that an ever-growing number of Australians are moving away from the nation's biggest cities in favour of rural living.

The Regional Movers Index (RMI) showed a national 11 per cent increase in people leaving the "big smoke" to set up house in country areas, reports Xinhua news agency.     The data, collected by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), compared figures from the June quarter of 2021 to those of the same period in 2020.  The exodus was most notable in the nation's two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, both of which have endured the nation's longest Covid-19 lockdowns.  The only capital city to go against the trend was Perth in Western Australia which had a slight population increase from its regional areas.