The rural space of Romania is characterised in terms of administrative breakdown, area and population, with reference to the NUTS classifications. This is followed by a demographic analysis of the gender and age structures, as well as migration flows. The rural-urban flows are considered, as is the employment structure in rural areas. Then, the farming sector is analysed, both with respect to its productive and factor characteristics, and the farm population features, over the period of systemic transformation. It is noted that farming intensity has gone down altogether on almost all accounts, while privatisation of farming has been overwhelming. At the same time, during the transformation, there have been disadvantageous phenomena within the farm population (decrease of average acreage). Against this background, the institutional infrastructure of the Romanian agriculture and rural economy is considered, including various ownership and association forms. It is proposed that an adequate restructuring of Romanian agriculture would require a developed and pronounced agricultural policy, as well as significant outlays.