Trends in territorial disparities in East-Central Europe and Hungary in the first two decades of EU membership

The concept of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the countries included within this designation, remains ambiguous both in academic literature and everyday discourse (Szabó et al. 2019). For the purposes of this study, we define the Central and Eastern European region—primarily for practical reasons and due to the fundamental similarities in the processes under examination—as comprising Hungary and the other Visegrád countries (Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia), along with the post-Soviet and former socialist states that joined the EU in or after 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia). These eleven countries, commonly referred to as “Eastern” in EU documents, will hereafter be designated as the EU11 countries.

Our study explores the major trends in regional inequalities during the post-millennium period, covering the available data primarily up to 2021, and in some cases, 2022. We begin with a brief overview of key indicators for the European Union as a whole, with a particular focus on the EU11 group. Subsequently, we shift our attention to Hungary’s internal regional dynamics, examining income disparities as well as other dimensions of inequality, highlighting both patterns that align with broader Central and Eastern European trends and those that are uniquely Hungarian.

In both cases, beyond assessing the magnitude of inequalities and interpreting spatial patterns, we strive—within the constraints of our study’s scope—to provide explanations for regional characteristics, track temporal shifts, and identify the key underlying factors driving these changes.