Spatial concentration and regional distribution of economic activities in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

The paper analyses the spatial concentration of economic activities/sectors in the Republic of Croatia in the period from 2009 to 2016. For this purpose, absolute, and relative spatial concentrations—HirfindahlHirschman's index and variants of the Gini coefficient of concentration (Gini coefficient, spatial Gini coefficient and Gini location coefficient)—were applied. As a basis for their calculation, data on the number of employees per county are used. The results show that the most spatially-concentrated activities are those of the tertiary sector, in particular activities related to information and communication. Some activities are highly concentrated in the City of Zagreb, while others are highly concentrated in certain coastal counties. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing have the most even spatial arrangement. Most of the researched activities did not show a significant change in degree of spatial concentration between 2009 and 2016.