Spatial variations in the socioeconomic development of rural municipalities in the podkarpackie voivodeship

Abstract

The main goal of all territorial administration units, including municipalities, is to promote socioeconomic development. The implemented actions address a broad range of economic, social, spatial and environmental issues. Therefore, socioeconomic development is a complex and multi-dimensional concept that is difficult to evaluate in an unambiguous and objective manner. Statistical methods in object-based multidimensional modeling support such evaluations by considering numerous attributes/variables, which increases the efficiency of the analytical process. In this article, Hellwig’s development pattern method was applied to classify rural municipalities in Podkarpackie Voivodeship based on their socioeconomic development. Twenty-seven indicators were designed for the needs of the analysis with the use of Statistics Poland data for 2018. Based on the results, the municipalities were grouped into four classes with different levels of socioeconomic development. Class III was the largest group, and it was composed of 39 municipalities with a medium-low level of socioeconomic development. Class II was composed of a similar number of municipalities (38) with a medium-high level of socioeconomic development. The smallest groups were Class I containing 18 municipalities with a high level of socioeconomic development, and class IV containing 14 municipalities with a low level of development.