i perspektyw rozwoju obszarów wiejskich w Polsce do 2015 roku

120 SummaryIn terms of the economic activity, the situation of the rural population hassignificantly improved. The number of business entities in rural areas is growingdynamically which speaks for the multifunctional development of these areas.The unemployment rate in rural areas has declined. However, the spatialstructure of this phenomenon has remained unchanged. Still, the unemploymentrate is highest in the regions where state-owned farms played an importantrole and in the vicinity of centres characterized by the obsolete industrialstructure. It may be assumed that they are the regions with a permanent unemploymentproblem.Stimulation of the multifunctional development of rural areas, in particularthose located in suburbs is the most effective method of stopping depopulationand maintaining the sustainable population structure.Definitely, the largest concentration of depressed rural areas is in northern-easternPoland and along the eastern border of the country, where mostrural communes were classified as depressed or transitional areas. Attempts toprevent unfavourable demographic, economic and social phenomena shouldfocus mainly on this area. These areas should be a subject of detailed studiesleading to elaboration of optimum scenarios of the economic and social development.So far, they have been identified as depressed areas but no properdevelopment strategies have been elaborated for them.Individual communes being in an extremely unfavourable situation have alsobeen identified in interregional suburbs of central Poland. Definitely, the bestsituation in this regard is in rural areas of southern and western Poland, wherein the territory of 7 regions only 2 units have been classified as depressed areas.Of great importance to the improvement in unfavourable demographic andsocial phenomena is accessibility, which, in some cases, stops a necessity of thepermanent migration from rural areas and stimulates small investments. In connectionwith that, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the improvementin accessibility to suburban areas from regional centres. Transport priorities atthe regional level should relate to these areas where a large centre (or conurbation)is situated in the vicinity of demographic or social depressed areas. Wehave such a situation in the area of Kielce, Radom, Cz^stochowa and Bialystok.http://rcin.org.pl