Factors of socio-economic development of rural areas

Abstract The socio-economic development of rural areas is determined by a complex of factors. The paper proposes the author’s classification of factors, suggesting their division into external (regulated and unregulated by the main business entities and management structures) and internal ones. The characteristics of the main internal factors were given with respect to the sectoral specialization, infrastructure development, as well as considering certain features of the social sphere and the involvement of business entities in the processes of cooperation and economic integration.