Rural areas in Lithuania have been experiencing negative changes for some time now: over three decades, the rural population has decreased by 270 thousand; moreover, 2011 data shows that more than 4 rural settlements were no longer inhabited. Rural community organizations (RCO) are often identified as one of the effective tools that can slow down these negative changes and enable development of rural areas. Based on similar essential elements (social capital, identity, leader) RCO can be considered as an institutionalized form of community. They both depend on human resources and their relationships. In 2020, total of 1,887 rural community organizations were registered in Lithuania, their network consisted of 1,745 rural settlements. 118 of these had more than one RCO in their territory, as a result, rural community organizations were clustered in area. The estimated average distance between RCO was 3.7 kilometers. The analysis revealed that a statistically significant part of the RCO is concentrated near municipal administrative centers: at a distance of 10 kilometers from them (that is, 37.3% rural areas of the country), 45.2% of all rural community organizations are concentrated. Due to demographic trends, territorial disparities in representation occur: the smallest representation is in the suburban municipalities near the big cities, and the highest one is in the sparsely populated municipalities of South-Eastern and Northern Lithuania.

Rural community organisations (RCOs) are part of a non-governmental organisations network, an effective tool for tackling local problems and reducing growing territorial exclusion. Despite their significance, it is not fully clear how many of these organisations exist in Lithuania. This is due to several reasons: the typology of settlements in the national law (more specifically, the definition of rural areas) no longer reflects the demographic reality, and the definitions contained in the sub-legislation are ‘manipulated’. In the context of the activities of RCO, this is a flawed practice as it slows down the empowerment of the existing potential of organisations. The article presents the issue of the RCO network as well as addresses the problem of the typology of the settlement system itself. Adapting the research practice opens a scientific debate to launch a search for answers to emerging problems.