According that sustainable development is a fundamental prerequisite for long-term survival of the economy, ie life in general, in this master thesis sustainable development is presented as a framework for shaping policies and strategies of continuous enviromental, economic and social progress, without compromising human development in the future. Tourism as an industry has a significant impact on each of the dimensions of sustainability, with more and more emphasis in recent years on the development of tourismwithin the requirements for the sustainability of micro-locations, destinations and rural areas. Rural tourism is a form of tourism that encompasses all activities of a rural area, and which is determined by characteristics such as peaceful enviroment, preserved nature, silence, communication with the domicile population, or host, and getting acquainted with the way of life of each area. In accordance with the above, rural tourism includes all activities related to the rural lifestyle, such as horseback riding, hiking, health tourism, gastronimic eco-tourism and ect. The County of Istria abounds in all the features and activities of rural tourism, and is of special importance for the development and rural tourism, especially rural tourism in the Republic of Croatia. The subject of this master thesis is to explain the concept of sustainable development and rural tourism, and assess the sustainability of rural tourism in Istria according to the criteria of sustainable development, problems and strategies according to which sustainable development in rural areas of Istria develops and meets. The results achieved so far are compared. The data sources used in this thesis are various professional and scientific books, studies, and articles by domestic and foreign authors related to the topic of sustainable development, and various databases were used from which statistical data were collected.