Adaptability of quality of life in rural Serbia to the needs of young people: Perceptions of agricultural extension officers

Abstract

High quality of life in rural areas represents the key prerequisite for sustainable rural development. In addition to ensuring that the young will remain in these areas, it also indicates rural vitality and plays a key role in rural development policies and local development strategies in all countries. The aim of this article was to examine the extent to which the quality of life in rural Serbia was adapted to the needs of young people in order to ensure their stay in rural areas. Using a semi-structured questionnaire and an online and telephone survey, the author asked 118 agricultural extension officers from all agricultural extension services in Serbia to express their opinions on this issue. The agricultural extension officers evaluated quality of rural life and its adaptability to the needs of the young using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not adapted) to 5 (highly adapted). The average score for Serbia was 2.4, which indicates that quality of life is slightly adapted to the needs of the young. Quality of life was rated higher (moderately adapted) only in the area of Belgrade, while in the other areas it had the average values for Serbia (slightly adapted). Despite the significant differences between the regions regarding the achieved level of economic development, the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that these differences did not have an influence on the agricultural extension officers' evaluation of the analyzed variable (p=0.239).