Scientific Papers Series Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development Vol. 18, Issue 2, 2018 PRINT ISSN 2284-7995, E-ISSN 2285-3952 319 ASPECTS REGARDING THE LIVING STANDARD OF THE RURAL POPULATION IN THE SOUTH MUNTENIA REGION OF DEVELOPMENT, ROMANIA Ionut Daniel PETRE University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, 59 Marasti Boulevard, District 1, 011464, Bucharest Romania, Phone: +40213182564, Fax: +40213182888, Email: ptr_ionutdaniel@yahoo.co.uk Corresponding author: ptr_ionutdaniel@yahoo.co.uk Abstract The study had the purpose to analyze the evolution of the rural population and its living standard in the South Muntenia region in the period 2007-2016. The data were collected from the National Institute of Statistics and the fixed basis index and comparison method were used to establish the evolution of the following indicators: rural population, rural population dealing with agriculture, human resource, civil occupied population, GDP and GDP/inhabitant, average monthly income and expense per household, and poverty rate. The results showed that rural population represents 58 % of the region population, and is in a continuous decline due to the low birth rate, high mortality rate and migration. Most of the people work in agriculture. The living standard is low as GDP/capita, average income and expense per household are much lower than the average in the country. In this context, the authorities both at the national and local level should establish a corresponding strategy for the sustainable development of the South Muntenia region for improving the living standard of the local population. Key words: living standard, rural population, South Muntenia region, Romania INTRODUCTION The South Muntenia region is one of the 8 micro regions of development existing in Romania. It is situated in the South part of the country, and has 34,453 km 2 surface, representing 14.5 % of Romania's area [29]. From an administrative point of view, its surface includes 7 counties: Arges (19.8%), Calarasi (14.8%), Dambovita (11.8%), Giurgiu (10.2 %), Ialomita (12.9%), Prahova (13.7%) and Teleorman (16.8%). Within the counties there are 2,019 villages and 519 communes, but also 32 cities and 16 municipalities [28]. The economic development of the South Muntenia region is based on its natural resources of the subsoil (natural gases, petroleum, coal, salt, sulphur, gypsum, and buildings materials which contributed to the development of industry. About 71 % of the region surface is represented by agricultural land, of which about 81 % is arable land suitable for cropping [18]. The variability of relief including branches of mountains belonging to the Southern Carpathians, the Subcarpathic hills, and the plains in the South, as well as the climate favor the development of agriculture, a large variety of crops being cultivated and large range of farm animals being grown. From an economic point of view, the South Muntenia region is among the less developed regions having a GDP/inhabitant smaller than 75 % of the EU average. The urbanization rate is 41.4 % at the region level reflecting that rurality is dominant, as confirmed by the share of 58 % of the rural population in the total population of the South Muntenia region, which accounted for 3,394,547 inhabitants on July 1st, 2017 [5, 24, 27]. Even if it is dominant, the rural population is in a continuous decline due to the decreasing birth rate, the need for jobs of the young population who migrates to cities and the weak institutional infrastructure, public utilities and services [2]. In the South Muntenia region most of the population living in the rural area is dealing with agriculture, and this is a specific feature in the rural Romania where the diversification