It analyses the diversity and the degree of economic development and the standard of living in rural areas in Poland with regard to, among others, demographic and social features, economic situation of the population, residential conditions, technical and social infrastructure, national economy entities, use of lands, the production features of agriculture, natural environment, and also the sources of financing rural areas. The publication, apart from the analysis, will also contain a tabular part for rural areas distinguished on the basis of the territorial division according to the National Official Register of the Territorial Division of the Country (TERYT), the methodology prepared under the methodological work „The typology of rural areas”, the definition of rural areas adopted for the purposes of the Rural Development Program for the period 2007–2013 and the typology used by Eurostat and OECD. The data will be presented at the level of voivodeships (NTS 2) and subregions (NTS 3).