Coordinates of standard of living in romanian rural areas, at the end of 2005

Abstract

Overall, it is well known now that Romanian population from rural areas has a lower standard of living than people from urban localities. This paper aims to realize a deeper analysis of rural living conditions in Romania, trying to identify their specific coordinates at the end of 2005. A set of 35 categorical indicators describing various aspects of living conditions are used in order to characterize this multidimensional concept. Aggregation of the primary indicators of living conditions is done with the help of a non arbitrary technique, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). According to MCA results, variables which differentiate the most between rural households in terms of their standard of living are about the access to running water, toilet and sewerage. Significant roles in discriminating between rural households have also the variables describing their endowment with poultries, bovines and agricultural field.