Rural areas as a place for non-agricultural economic activity in a Central and Eastern European context

Abstract

This chapter presents the most important definitions of rural areas developed based on various systems in Poland and in other EU countries. Diversification of rural areas has been presented in relation to the administrative structure of a given country, including the historical background. In Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, rural areas are delimited based on diverse criteria, mainly including population density indicators or administrative decisions which attribute an area to a specific category. Rural areas are an important part of socioeconomic diversity of CEE countries. Making the right use of the development potential of rural areas and their residents, and meeting the challenges they face are currently the basic goals of the rural development policy. However, it is difficult to attain them because of the diverse definitions of rural areas which result in the emergence of different, often inconsistent, rural development measures.