IDENTIFYING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC NEEDS OF THE AGRICULTURAL POPULATION IN TIMIS COUNTY, ROMANIA

The statistical data collected in the European Union have revealed a distinctivesocio-economic profile of the Romanian rural environment compared to the WesternEuropean states and even the new Member States of Central and Eastern Europe.Romania has a high percentage of rural population (almost 45% of the total population,representing 9.65 million people – National Institute of Statistics - NIS, Statistical Yearbook2009) and low socio-economic indicators in rural areas. Studies on life quality conducted inthe past years have revealed critical levels of income, consumption, habitation or accessto public services and utilities in rural.Given the social changes that have occurred in the Romanian society in the pasttwo decades, the rural environment is undergoing a tortuous stage of reorganisationinitiated by a series of socio-economic processes: restoration of land, economicreorganisation, urban-rural migration, external migration, rapid development of localitiesnear larger towns or depopulation of isolated areas.Under the circumstances, the image of the current village at the macro level is verydifferent from the reality of 20 years ago