Rural poverty and labor migration are interrelated socio-economic phenomena that determine the specifics of spatial inequality between urban and rural areas. Their mutual influence manifests itself through the rural population's limited access to resources, infrastructure, labor markets, and social services, which stimulates migration flows and at the same time creates new forms of vulnerability. The purpose of this article is to conduct a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the concepts of rural poverty and labor migration, identify key stages in the evolution of scientific approaches to these phenomena, and determine analytical gaps that require further research. The methodological basis of the study consists of historical-logical, systemic, and comparative-historical approaches, as well as methods of analysis and synthesis, classification, and structural-functional analysis. Based on these methods, the theoretical concepts of classical, egalitarian, sociological, and multidisciplinary schools have been systematized. The results of the analysis made it possible to identify consistent patterns in the understanding of the phenomenon of rural poverty and its relationship with migration processes, as well as to show the multidimensionality of these phenomena through the categories of vulnerability, exclusion, and deprivation. Particular attention is paid to the gender aspect of rural poverty, reflecting structural inequality between men and women in access to resources and employment. In the future, comparative empirical studies are needed to assess the impact of different types of migration on the dynamics of household poverty, including vulnerable groups, as well as the development of methodological approaches to measuring multidimensional rural poverty, taking into account gender differences.