Identyfikacja i ocena procesów demograficznych w Polsce ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem wsi
Identification and Evaluation of Demographic Processes in Poland with Special Regard to the Rural Areas

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article was to provide detailed spatial identification and explanationof the main phenomena and demographic processes in Poland, with particular emphasison the specificity of rural areas and urban-rural relations. Data on population phenomenaand processes were analyzed in 10 categories of communes (gminas) distinguished onthe basis of the administrative-and-settlement hierarchy, socio-economic functions andmorphological characteristics. The analysis includes selected issues from this study, relatedto natural and migratory flows, demographic forecasts as well as conclusions and re -commendations for regional and local development. Since depopulation affects the statebudget and excessively burdens the social welfare system, development of new demographicforecasts is strongly recommended, as current ones are not reliable for rural areas, becausethey do not take account of the actual scale of internal and external migrations. The analyses,evaluations and forecasts should increasingly take into account a division of rural areas intodifferent categories in terms of functional characteristics (suburban areas, typical agriculturalgminas, tourist and transitional ones, etc.). In view of the anticipated and irreversibledepopulation of vast portions of Poland’s rural areas, analytical work on the national planfor rural development should urgently be started, to address such issues as more effectivematching of local services networks, preventing low-density housing, a possibility to adjustand modify administrative divisions at local and district level, migration and settlementpolicy, tourism and leisure policy.

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