ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL ECONOMIC PROFILE OF RURAL AREA IN CĂLĂRAI COUNTY, ROMANIA

Rural areas in Romania are affected by the significant lack of infrastructure and its deficiencies that have a deep impact both on the economic development and quality of life. According to the latest statistics, 42% of Romania population lives in villages. In the south of the country, 58% of the total population lives in the countryside, being the highest percentage compared to the other regions. Starting from this state of facts, in this study, we set out to make an x-ray of the social -economic profile of the rural environment in Calara$i county by analyzing the structure and evolution of the number of agricultural companies, the cultivated area, the associative forms from the county, the labor resources employed in agriculture, but also the transport, education and health infrastructure. The analysis of the rural profile of Calara$i county aims to formulate solutions and proposals in creating concrete conditions regarding the functionality of a socio-economic environment favorable to the consolidation of a sustainable and multifunctional development of the rural space. As research methods, we collected and descriptively analyzed statistical data, studied technical documents and specialized bibliography, and to analyze the state of the county's rural environment, we proceeded to develop a SWOT analysis. The overall analysis of the components of the rural area reveals that the prospects for the development of rural communities are affected by the economic, social and infrastructural backwardness of the rural area of Calara$i County, but at the same time it has considerable advantages, as presented in the SWOT analysis, whose capitalization will have a significant impact on the future economic and social development of the rural area of the county.