MEDINA, Ohio (AP): An analysis finds that drug crimes are behind an increase in the number of people being sentenced to Ohio prisons from rural and suburban counties.

In the early 1990s two-thirds of Ohio inmates came from the six big urban counties of Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, Montgomery and Summit.

The paper says that since 2011, more than half of new inmates came from Ohio's 82 rural and suburban counties.

County officials say drug crime is the main cause of the shift, although other factors play a role including suburban and rural population growth, tougher policing and the Great Recession.

State data showed that 9 of 10 inmates in Ohio prisons in 2013 had a history of drug abuse.