European rural areas are not all the same and have never been so. One important distinction is the one between peripheral and central rural areas. Recently there are indications for increasing differences and polarisation between marginalising and impoverishing rural areas at the one hand and suburbanising and gentrifying rural areas at the other. Welfare states are defined as such based on their intention to protect the social and economic wellbeing of their citizen through the application of specific policy instruments. For what concerns rural areas specific instruments for farmers such as pensions and health insurance, that are offered in some countries are relevant as well as specific provisions and payments that assured the availability of public services. In recent years this changed – partly as a result of globalisation and the demographic transition and accelerated by the global economic crisis and resulting public budget cuts.
