Non-agricultural rural population in the socio-economic transformation period related to the Polish accession to the European Union

Agnieszka Otłowska

Abstract. At the end of the 1980s families managing agricultural holdings constituted almost 59% of Polish rural families. Transformations in agriculture and agrarian structure, changes in production conditions and agricultural products’ sale caused the need to discontime of farming by a number of rural residents and to search for new non-agricultural earning opportunities, which results in the constantly increasing trend as regards the process of non-agricultural rural families group forming. This category has firmly inscribed itself into rural reality and the further social and economic development of rural areas is to a large extent related to non-agricultural population, thanks to whom the pace of positive changes in rural areas and agriculture is still increasing.

Keywords: Rural areas, non-agricultural population, livelihoods.

References:

1.Chmieliński P. Otłowska A. (2007): Zmiany w strukturze społeczno-demograficznej ludności nierolniczej w latach 2000-2005 [Changes in Social and Demographic Structure of Non-Agricultural Population in 2000-2005], IAFE NRI, Warsaw, p.11

2.Sikorska A. (2005) Zmiany w strukturze społeczno-ekonomicznej  ludności niechłopskiej w okresie transformacji ustrojowej [Changes in Social and Economic Structure of Non-Agricultural Population During System Transformation], IAFE NRI, Warsaw, p. 48

3.Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, The National Strategic Rural Development Plan 2007-2013, Warsaw 2007, p. 4. 

dr Agnieszka Otłowska 

Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics 

National Research Institute (IAFE-NRI),  

Poland