Knowledge and financial skills as the factors determining the financial exclusion process of rural dwellers in Poland

The aim of the article is determining the level of knowledge and financial skills of rural dwellers on an example of one of the European Union member states (Poland), as the factors which play a crucial role in the process of limiting the phenomenon of financial exclusion. The main source of data used for the analysis was the information gathered through the author’s own studies conducted on a group of 1000 randomly chosen people. Statistical analysis of the researched material comprised the summary statistical measurements, the non-parametric χ2 test and the cluster analysis (k-means clustering). As results from the conducted analysis, the inhabitants of rural areas in Poland are characterized by the average level of knowledge and financial skills. The level of financial competences represented by rural dwellers is conditioned both by the economic and non-economic factors. Three groups of citizens were distinguished on the basis of the conducted investigations. The group which requires special educational measures comprises of women, elderly and less educated persons, households with lower incomes, families of annuitants and old-age pensioners, but also persons using financial tools in a lower degree, not using banking services or living in the areas with a worse access to the banking infrastructure.