A Társadalmi És Gazdasági Struktúrák Reginális Jellemzői a Nyugat Dunántúlon Regional Characteristics of Social and Economic Structures in Western Transdanubia

The differences in the economic and social development levels of regions have become markedly visible since the change of the political and economic system in Hungary, and the research of regional differences has become increasingly important.The research presented in the paper was aimed at creating an indicator to measure the development level of settlements, which is objective, easily quantifiable and meaningful for each town or village. The researched area was the Western Transdanubian region, and the main tool of analysis was the Complex Development Indicator (CDI). CDI was computed using 18 variables related to the economic and infrastructural development status of the villages in question. The settlements of the region were classified into relatively homogeneous groups based on CDI results, then the main factors leading to underdevelopment were identified.