EN
The main aim of the present study is to characterise factors influencing the health situation of people living in rural areas of Poland. Apart from those having an impact on the general situation, three groups of factors specific to the situations of rural residents have been singled out: 1) those connected with the nature of agricultural production, 2) those resulting from characteristic living conditions, 3) those resulting from the specific nature of the organisation of social life. Due to the processes of economic transforma-tion taking place at present in Poland, the health situation of people living in rural areas has come to be influenced by two processes above all, i.e. the fast growth of suburban areas and the sudden pauperisation of farming people.