EN
The purpose of this article is to analyse the standard to which 120 villages in the south of Poland have been equipped with public infrastructure. Villages which are the sea: of communal authorities have been excluded from the analysis, with the goal being to characterise the three kinds of structures and institutions that offer cultural and educational, social or other organisational services. The rarest elements of public infrastricture are those of an organisational character (folk groups, public organisations), as well as the outfitting with social infrastructure (chemist's, accommodation, sports clubs) and the cultural and educational kind (gymnasiums and common rooms). Health cen-tres, sports fields and libraries are not so often present, while more frequent elements include kindergartens, churches and primary schools, and above all fire stations. The distribution of services on the basic and elementary levels is determined by both the size of the locality and the requirements of particular infrastructure elements in regard to the services offered to people. On the basis of the research, there are seen to be four size-groups of villages that are characterised by a similar equipment standard. Thus, while villages with less than 200 inhabitants are practically devoid of public infrastructure, a low equipment standard does exist in those with between 200 and 800 inhabitants, which often have fire stations, churches, primary schools, an institute for farmer's wives and a sports field. In turn, villages with populations of 800-2000 people have an average standard of equipping with structures and institutions, while the major-ity of infrastructural elements only become common among villages inhabited by more than 2000 people.