ABSTRACT
This chapter compares and evaluates Turkey's rurality with that of the European Union (EU) countries on the basis of selected rural indicators. Rurality is considered by the EU as a combination of economic, natural and cultural components; it cannot be characterized by one-dimensional criteria such as population density, agriculture or natural resources. A multidimensional classification technique, factor analysis, is applied to compare rurality within the EU Member States while reducing 15 indicators to 5 main factors, namely underdevelopment, demography, urbanization, higher education and industrialization levels. The unequal spread of schools does not only exist in Turkey but also, around Europe so that most of the European countries have a different share of school enrollment. Therefore, northern and western European countries have a similar level, and so do eastern and southern European countries. In terms of the industrialization factor there are again similarities between northern and western and southern and eastern European countries.
