Individualisation of deprived areas in Romania's South West Region

Abstract

Measuring territorial disparities is the first step in studies aiming to improve territorial cohesion. As intraregional disparities are often higher than inter-regional ones, an analysis of development at local level is needed in order to define areas of intervention for specific targeted policies. The aim of this study is to individualise deprived areas in Romania's South West region through the use of the Principal Component Analysis run on 15 social, economic, demographic and physical indicators defined at local level (LAU 2 units). By computing a global index of deprived areas, 13 areas were individualised at regional level, with the results being compared with other studies on deprived areas (Romania’s poverty map, Social Development Index and Less-favoured areas). The final output showcased the differences in defining deprived areas according to the used methodology, with a need to standardise such methods for policy targeting in the future while also considering environmental quality factors.