Abstract. - In Romania, the recent changes in the settlement system are various. One trend concerning a part of the population is a "return to the village". It seems to be the most original change, but also the most complexe one. Since 1990, the rural depopulation, yet massive and rapide, has been strongly reduced and partially replace by the movements from the town to the countryside : the migratory flows between urban and rural areas are henceforward balanced. The regional importance of this return of the population to the village seems to be directly related to the extent of the earlier departures. Thus, the rural Moldavia is the region where this process is the most significant. This process is certainly a result of the recent general c...