Regional disparities of incomes in Somogy County

Abstract

Somogy County has always been an underdeveloped rural area of Hungary with a sparse spatial structure. Its socio-economic indicators are still among the weakest ones in the country. This peripheral area in the western part of the Southern Transdanubian Region is also internally differentiated. Regional disparities and the polarization of development are reflected in average income levels. When per capita income categories of settlements were projected on a cartogram, a specific spatial pattern appeared. The prominence of the county seat, of settlements by Lake Balaton, and of several small towns shows their relatively central position, while they are located predominantly on the edges of the county. Smaller villages predominantly occupied the extremes. Some were on the top of the income categories, but most of them were in the low end. Some of them are among the poorest villages of Hungary. Examining the sources of income it is clear that higher levels of income originate from wages, salaries, or from the profit of investments, while low incomes come in the form of social benefits from the state. This shows the role of social structure combining with regional position in forming the income-gap. Demographical processes such as the migration of the qualified labor force to centres and the higher birth-rate at the margins of society may lead to further widening of regional differences. Development continues, despite the crisis, in the centres, while regional ghettoisation escalates problems on the periphery. Keywords: regional disparities, income, spatial texture, centre–periphery relations