Development Differences among the Regions of Hungary

Abstract

The analysis of the regional inequality is essential for a country and it is also an important question whether the inequalities are growing or decreasing. The first, shorter part of the paper provides a number of reflections of the existing methods of the examinations of intertemporal change of spatial differences of various socio-economic indicators, mainly the per capita income. The diverse growth rate of spatial income level of various spatial units (regions, countries, provinces, counties etc.) is a historical-statistical fact which refers to an unrepeatable, unique and particular historical situation. The descriptions of the convergence or divergence of various spatial units in various time periods contribute to our historical knowledge and help to evaluate the effectiveness of regional policy.The subject of the second, larger part of our study is the regional disparities in Hungary. Our approach is mainly historical- descriptive, but by the help of Hungarian case study many theoretical issues will be presented also. The regional comparison includes the economic development of Central Hungary, Central Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia, Southern Transdanubia, Northern Hungary, Northern Great Plain, Southern Great Plain. Our study primarily analyses the macrostructure of the seven Hungarian regions between 1990 and 2010. It includes the social factors of Hungary such as the population allocation, the labour market situation, income and living conditions and some general economic indicators.These indicators are all the essential indices for the analysis of the economy of a country. If we examine a longer period, we can observe the changes whether the inequalities have grown or decreased and how large the changes are. With the help of these indicators we have tried to prove that the regional inequalities have grown in the last twenty years.