The Level of Life in the Rural Areas of Eastern Poland in 2004 2015 Years

Pokłosiem globalizacji są nasilające się procesy integracyjne krajów i regionów. Przejawem tego są m.in. dążenia państw Unii Europejskiej do coraz ściślejszego powiązania swoich gospodarek, zaś celem jest usprawnienie działania wspólnego rynku i zwiększenie pozycji konkurencyjności Europy. Dla osiągnięcia tego celu kraje Unii Europejskiej zmierzają do podniesienia 86 poziomu rozwoju społeczno-ekonomicznego i wyrównywania dysproporcji pomiędzy poszczególnymi regionami [Kudełko 2013].The aim of this work is the analysis of the spatial differentiation of the level of life on the rural areas in the Eastern Poland and its changes in 2004-2015 years. Research included all the rural communes and rural parts of urban-rural communes located in the area of five voivodeships, namely Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie, Lubelskie, Podlaskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie, that is 639 communes. The level of life has been expressed by synthetic index constructed by method of standardised sums (Perkal’s index) using the 11 sub-characteristics. The conducted analysis revealed that the the level of life in the rural areas of Eastern Poland is a result of the influence of many factors and show high spatial differentiation, what results from the general social and economic development of these areas. Moreover, the conducted research showed that high level of life characterise spatial units located in the neighbourhood of the biggest urban centres, along the main routes and those with well-developed tourist functions