REGIONAL INEQUALITIES IN SOCIAL WELLBEING IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN-EUROPE

The study empirically investigates regional inequalities in social wellbeing in six Central and East European countries during the 1970 to 1987 period. Regional inequalities are quite significant among and within particular countries, and they decrease from northwest to southeast at the national and subnational level. Regional inequalities in economic development are greater than in social wellbeing. Most Central and East European countries inherited these inequalities from the past and have had insufficient time to eliminate them. Regional inequalities also reflect different rates of population growth, ethnic patterns and subordination of social development to the policy of economic growth. Examination of changes in social wellbeing during the examined period points to convergence trends in most countries. However, the rate of change was closely associated with the pre-existing conditions and the slowest progress has been reported in economically advanced areas. Considering the present changes in Central and Eastern Europe, one can expect that regional inequalities will remain or may even increase as all countries are introducing elements of free market economy and may lead to even greater political instability and population migrations.