As a territorial and socio-economic formation, the
village represents the concrete expression of territorial
permanence and continuity, directly relating to the genetic
and dynamic factors of settlement phases and humanisation
of the geographical space. Under the present conditions, a
number of manifest phenomena are triggered by the
decrease in birth-rates, internal and external migration, all
of which affect the process of population ageing throughout
the country. In the 20 years elapsed since the downfall of
the communist regime in 1989, the population of Romania
dropped by nearly 1,713,000 inhabitants, 1,195,000 of
them in the countryside alone. The demographic decline
continued over the 2000-2009 period as well, at higher
rates in the rural (-49 ‰) than in the urban (-37‰) areas.
Solving the numerous issues connected with the rural
population component calls for strategic, time-stable
optimal approaches.