THE DIFFERENTIATION IN THE LEVEL OF SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS OF THE LOWER SILESIAN PROVINCE IN THE YEARS 2002 AND 2010

Abstract

A gradual process of convergence of our country with the bloc’s member states has been observed since Poland’s accession to the European Union. The advance in the standard of living and living conditions of the inhabitants attests to this. The study area included rural and urban-rural communes of Lower Silesia. The research was aimed at determining the differentiation of the level of socioeconomic development within the Lower Silesian region and establishing whether changes in growth serve to increase or decrease this diversification. The level of socioeconomic development in 2002 and 2010 was determined based on available data. In order to determine the differentiation, a hierarchical method of linear ordering and statistical methods were applied, including the Pearson correlation coefficient, as well as the coefficients of variability and determination. The studies showed that differentiation in terms of the level of socioeconomic development in the province’s rural areas deepened in the years 2002-2010 . It was noted that despite significant changes in most indicators characterizing socioeconomic development, growth progressed unevenly and was spatially diversified. Communes with the highest level of development were located around urban agglomerations, however, those communes which saw the fastest development did not form a compact territory around cities.

Keywords

• local development
• spatial differentiation
• rural areas
• Lower Silesia
• cohesion