Summary:

Investigations were conducted to analyse the relationships between the level of multifunctional rural development and the quality of these areas environment. The studies were carried out on the basis of statistical materials obtained from 97 municipalities of the świętokrzyskie province. The crucial point of the work was an application of canonical analysis which is a generalization of multiple regression analysis. A significant statistical dependence was found between the level of multifunctional development and the quality of the investigated rural areas environment described by three canonical variables. These variables explain 38% of variances of multifunctional development variables sets at given variables of environment quality. The computed value of variance is not satisfactory. Therefore it is necessary to carry out changes concerning the kind and number of indices of both multifunctional development and the environment quality. Due to multivariate character of the analysed sets of variables, canonical analysis is the correct method allowing for objective study of conditions of rural areas development.