Social Development and Regional Disparities in the Rural Areas of Romania: Focus on the Social Disadvantaged Areas

Currently, Romania’s rural area is undergoing a restructuring process (demographic, economic, social) acquiring new dimensions and characteristics. In the current paper we focus on the social characteristics of the rural area of Romania, as a consequence of the economic restructuring. Its aim is to identify the current patterns of social development and their territorial inequalities at a micro-scale level by assessing the levels of social development based on a Social Disadvantage Index (SDI). The indicators used for SDI include unemployment, employment in agriculture, dwellings quality, education, health. The results show that the deeply social disadvantaged rural areas are located in the north-eastern, south-eastern, south and south-western parts of Romania. The territorial continuity of these areas is interrupted by the presence of some metropolitan areas (Iaşi, Galaţi-Brăila, Constanţa, Bucharest, Piteşti, Ploieşti, Craiova). The rural settlements located in the central and western parts of Romania register some of the lowest SDI values being concentrated in counties well known for the very low degree of socio-economic development: Vaslui, Dolj, Olt and Teleorman. The research is in line with Romania’s Territorial Development Strategy which aims to ensure an integrated strategic planning to guide the national territorial development processes.