This article attempts to describe selected aspects of the socio-economic situation of rural areas in the 1980's and to analyze the changes that have occurred in the settlement pattern since the turn of the century. The study area covers all localities with a population of 3000 or less, broken down by size into four categories. Stratification by size provides a clearer picture of the heterogeneity of the rural area and reveals some of the effects of size. Variables used are population and locality between 1911 and 1981, land area under crops between 1951 and 1981, age structure in 1971 and 1981 and economic activity in 1981. Two of the more important conclusions of the study are (1 ) the number of small localities has fluctuated continually and (2) their populations are larger today than in the early 1900's. A marked shift in occupational structure can be observed. Farming is not practiced at all in over 500 localities of all sizes and is the occupation of a very small percentage of the labour force in the remaining localities. Population size is shown to have specific effects on age and occupational structures.