Social changes and standard of living of the population in rural areas in Poland in the second decade of the 21st century as an important area of smart specialisation

Agnieszka Wrzochalska

Abstract: Rural areas in Poland occupy 90.3% of the country. Over 15 million people (nearly 40% of the population of Poland) live in the villages. The accession to the EU has a significant effect on socio-economic situation of rural dwellers. The level of schooling and educational activity changed significantly as well as the life-expectancy of the elderlies increased. In the past two decades the changes in lifestyles were accompanied by the development of information and communications technologies. The contribution of agricultural sector, which employs only a certain number of people, to the rural economy reduced. Above mentioned factors are important for social change in the Polish countryside.
The purpose of the article is to analyse social changes in rural areas in Poland in the second decade of the 21st century and their impact on the standard of quality of rural population. It will discuss the issues related to demographic conditions, economic and educational activity of rural population. The analysis will cover also changes in social activity of inhabitants of rural areas after Poland’s accession to the EU, including e.g. participation in elections, authorities in rural areas or a degree of trust to the selected institutions and persons. Basic research material encompasses the data of mass statistics and data obtained from surveys of IERiGŻ-PIB, covering the years 2000–2005 and 2005–2011 on the basis of which trends and directions of social changes will be defined.

Keywords: Poland; rural areas; smart specialisation; social activity; standard of living

Date published: 2018-02-02