The crisis has jumped along the level of development of Northern and Eastern Hungary, trapped in the development of Western Hungary
A spectacular figure in the short summary of the EU’s statistical office shows how the gross value added of each NUTS2 region (3-3 counties in Hungary in the United States) developed in 2020 compared to the previous year and as we can see: The fall rate was around 5% in each region of Hungary.
Based on the economic performance in 2020, it is also interesting that how the level of development per capita of each region was in relation to the EU27 average in purchasing power parity. The figure below shows with the help of the color codes that the Hungarian regions belonged to the 50-75% development range (except for the Northern Great Plain, which rose to 49%, see below).
It is worth presenting the development level of each region in relation to the average average over time, because this shows that there is a significant catching up with the more developed regions, more precisely with the current EU average. Detailed data from Eurostat show that:
The picture of Hungarian catching up is mixed: it depends on which region we are talking about.
As the following table and graphs show: while Budapest, which is more developed than average, has become even more developed in recent years (153% of the EU average), the development trajectory of our most developed region, Western Transdanubia, has stalled: level of development compared to the EU average as in 2013 (70%). two have also moved away from the EU average by 6 percentage points in recent years. At the same time, the level of development of Central Transdanubia stagnated at 67% and since it stood at 66% in 2018 and before 2015-2016, we cannot talk about any substantial catching up for a long time.
All this points to what the European Commission’s Cohesion Report recently pointed out: at all levels of development, a region can be trapped in a development trap, and this can happen for many years to come, which is unfortunately a lot of examples from all over the EU and from the Hungarian regions as well. We wrote about this in detail the other day:
Meanwhile, it is gratifying that the catching-up of our poorest regions has gained new momentum in Europe in a crisis year of 2020as the level of development compared to the average average of Northern Hungary and the Northern Great Plain jumped by 2-2 percentage points to 50% and 49%, respectively, and that of the Southern Great Plain also increased by 1 percentage point to 54%.
Of particular interest is the last column of the table above:
While compared to 2013, the development of Western Transdanubia did not approach the average, that of Northern Hungary by 8 percentage points and that of the Northern Great Plain and Southern Great Plain by 6-6 percentage points.
The biggest development, on the other hand, was produced by the most advanced Budapest: with an increase of 10% points. Meanwhile, Pest County was only 1 percentage point closer to the EU average, it is true that it moved away from it in the middle of the study period and then started on the path of catching up again. Hopefully, this year will be further boosted by the fact that Budapest and Pest counties have changed administratively and Pest county already belongs to the least developed region (not Budapest) in the system of EU funds, so it has become eligible for free support intensity. It is also true, of course, that, as the Cohesion Report has pointed out, EU money alone does not guarantee a catching-up path, but it also requires a number of additional components.
Cover image source: Getty Images, in the picture the main square of Debrecen with the Great Church