Non-farming population represents an increasingly significant group of rural residents and therefore became an important object of study. The paper is primarily focused on the description of the non-farming rural population. The main source of the analysed data were surveys of families residing in 76 villages across Poland. The sampling of villages for the surveys was purposeful and representative, based on socio-economic features of the population and the land structure. Research shows that as many as 60% of rural families own no agricultural land in 2011 and on the basis of the analysis of socio-economic development observed in rural areas, it may be assumed that the non-farming rural population will grow further and that this socio-occupational category will increasingly determine the socio-economic development of rural areas.