The role of rural areas partly changed in the last decades. The countryside is still functioning as the main food producer of the world and this role became much more important because of the global population growth and because of the change in dietary habits. But other rural functions appeared just like recreation, health preservation, and on the other hand the different ecological functions' importance increased. The population living in the countryside is continuously decreasing as more and more people try to move into urban areas. One of the main aims of this article is to give a brief literature overview on the services needed in the rural areas in order to stop migration from the countryside to the cities. Based on extensive literature review the article summarizes the changing functions of the countryside and tries to list those developments which are needed to preserve rural population.