Activities of local government units in the popularization and promotion of a healthy lifestyle among an aging rural society – the case of Poland

Abstract

Purpose: Three goals were set in the study, which was met: to present the expected changes in the population of Poland, discuss the concept of "living in health" and prognoses regarding this issue. Methodology: The objects of the study were rural and urban-rural communes of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The statistical analysis of collected survey data was used as the method. Findings: The level of health popularisation and promotion by Local Government Units (LGUs) is varied. The activities related to the popularisation and promotion of a healthy lifestyle are moderate in 47.9% of respondents in rural communes and 17.4% in urban-rural communes. The level of indebtedness has an impact on undertaking activities in the field of health popularisation and promotion but does not affect the availability of sports and recreation infrastructure. At the same time, too few actual observations were indicated for TSUs taking the full range of measures and having a debt level falling into the 21-30% group (76%). However, too many observations (126%) relate to debt levels of 11-20%. Access to sports infrastructure does not affect the level of health popularisation and promotion. The obtained answers indicate that 34.5% of rural communes and 10% urban-rural have no problem with access to recreational infrastructure, for 35.5% of respondents from rural communes and 11.8% from urban-rural, this is a moderate problem. Implications: The ageing society causes changes and consequences in all areas of socio-economic life. The activities of some local governments are insufficient, and there is a lack of consistency in their conduct in this area.