Discussion Papers 2008.  
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area 9-20. p.
1 Introduction – The Carpathians: a European macroregion 
1.1 Physical geographic features 
The Carpathian Mountains are the Eastern wing of the Great Central Mountain 
System of Europe, curving on the territory of eight Central and Eastern European 
countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Roma-
nia and Serbia). The Carpathians begin on the Danube near Bratislava. They sur-
round Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards 
the south-west, and end on the southern bank of the Danube near the Iron Gate, in 
Serbia. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1500 km, and the width of the 
mountain chain varies between 12 km and 500 km. The greatest width of the Car-
pathian corresponds with its highest altitudes. The system attains its greatest 
breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the meridian of the Tatra group (the 
highest range with Gerlachovský štít, at 2655 m in Slovak territory near the Polish 
border). It covers an area of 190,000 km2, and, after the Alps, it is the most exten-
sive mountain system in Europe. 
Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not 
actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several 
orographically and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great a structural 
variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which only in a few places attain an altitude 
of over 2500 m, mostly lack the bold peaks, extensive snow-fields, large glaciers, 
high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. No area 
of the Carpathian range is covered with snow year-round, and there are no gla-
ciers. The Carpathian at their highest altitude are only as high as the Middle Re-
gion of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate and flora. 
The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube. The two ranges 
meet only at one point: the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The Danube also sepa-
rates the Carpathians from the Stara Planina, or Balkan Mountains at Orşova, 
Romania. The valley of the March (Morava) and Oder separates the Carpathians 
from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the 
great Central Mountain System of Europe. Unlike the other wings of the system, 
the Carpathians, which form watershed between the northern seas and the Black 
Sea, are surrounded on all side by plains, namely the Pannonian Plane on the 
southwest, the plane of the Lower Danube on the south, and the Galician Plain on 
the northeast. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
10 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
1.2 The analysed area 
For the purposes of the analysis and strategy building in the Carpathian region, a 
wider area have been delineated, as Carpathian programme area. This delineated 
area comprises much larger area (470 thousand km2) than the area of the Carpa-
thian mountains (190 thousand km2). It covers also the forelands of the mountain 
chain. Furthermore, it is delineated according the administrative regions of the 
Carpathian area (NUTS2 regions in Austria, Poland and Ukraine, NUTS3 regions 
in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Serbia) in order to have a larger 
data base for analysis and to enable the participation of regional governments 
with their whole administrative area in the project. According to this delineation, 
the whole territory of Slovakia is regarded as part of the Carpathian region (Fig-
ure 1
). 
This larger area has a population of nearly 53 million, which is comparable to 
the population size of Britain, France and Italy in Europe. It is about 7.6% of the 
European population, and somewhat less than 5% of the European territory (Table 
1
). 
The breakdown of the Carpathian region according to countries is the fol-
lowing. 
The Carpathian area has a rather stormy history. Hundred years ago, in 1907, 
80 percent of the Carpathian region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 
12.7 percent belonged to Romania, 3.9 percent to Serbia, 2.8 percent to the Ger-
man Reich, and 0.6 percent to the Russian Empire. After the First World War, the 
political map of the area changed radically. Romania’s share increased to 38 per-
cent, that of Czechoslovakia to 17.9 percent, Polanďs share to 19.5 percent, that 
of Serbia (Yugoslavia) to 7.1 percent. Hungary’s share from the Carpathian area 
delineated above decreased to 12.2 percent, that of Austria to 5.3 percent. 
After the Second World War, the Soviet Union became a Carpathian country, 
with a share of 12.5 percent, which was transferred from Poland, Czechoslovakia 
and Romania, respectively. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this area 
was “inherited” by the independent Ukraine. Serbia is the heir of the Yugoslav 
Carpathian territory, while the Czechoslovak area is shared by the Czech Repub-
lic and Slovakia, with the dominant part in Slovakia. 
1.3 Demography 
The average density of population in the Carpathian region is 120/km2. Behind 
this average, however, the differences are very large. In the proper mountains, 
where the economic carrying capacity is rather low, the density of population is 
10–25/km2. In the forelands of the mountains, it is rather high, over 150/km2. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
INTRODUCTION – THE CARPATHIANS: A EUROPEAN MACROREGION 
11 
Figure 1 
Map of the Carpathian development region 
 
Legend: AT11 – Burgenland; AT12 – Niederösterreich; AT13 – Wien; CZ062 – Jihomoravský; 
CZ071 – Olomoucký; CZ072 – Zlínský; CZ080 – Moravskoslezský; HU101 – Budapest; 
HU102 – Pest; HU212 – Komárom-Esztergom; HU221 – Győr-Moson-Sopron; HU311 – 
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén; HU312 – Heves; HU313 – Nógrád; HU321 – Hajdú-Bihar; HU322 – 
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok; HU323 – Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg; HU332 – Békés; HU333 – 
Csongrád; PL21 – Malopolskie; PL22 – Slaskie; PL32 – Podkarpackie; PL33 – Swietokrzyskie; 
RO111 – Bihor; RO112 – Bistriţa-Năsăud; RO113 – Cluj; RO114 – Maramureş; RO115 – Satu 
Mare; RO116 – Sălaj; RO121 – Alba; RO122 – Braşov; RO123 – Covasna; RO124 – Harghita; 
RO125 – Mureş; RO126 – Sibiu; RO211 – Bacău; RO214 – Neamţ; RO215 – Suceava; RO222 
– Buzău; RO226 – Vrancea; RO311 – Argeş; RO313 – Dâmboviţa; RO316 – Prahova; RO321 – 
Bucureşti; RO322 – Ilfov; RO412 – Gorj; RO413 – Mehedinţi; RO415 – Vâlcea; RO421 – 
Arad; RO422 – Caraş-Severin; RO423 – Hunedoara; RO424 – Timiş; RS03 – North Banat; 
RS05 – Central Banat; RS07 Grad Beograd; RS08 South Banat; RS11 – Podunavski; RS12 – 
Branicevski; RS13 – Borski; RS15 – Pomoravski; RS20 – Nisavski; RS21 – Zajecarski; SK010 
– Bratislavský kraj; SK021 – Trnavský kraj; SK022 – Trencianský kraj; SK023 – Nitrianský 
kraj; SK031 – Zilinský kraj; SK032 – Banskobystrický kraj; SK041 – Presovský kraj; SK042 – 
Kosický kraj; UA01 – Zakarpattia Oblast; UA02 – Lviv Oblast; UA03 – Ivano-Frankivsk 
Oblast; UA04 – Chernivtsi Oblast. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
12 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
Table 1 
Main indicators of the Carpathian area (2004) 
Country 
Carpathian  Carpathian 
As a percentage of the 
As a percentage of the 
area km2 
population 
country’s 
country’s 
Carpathian  Carpathian 
thousands 
area 
population 
area 
population 
Austria 23,558 
3,373 
28.1 
41.6 
5.3 
6.3 
Czech Republic 
21,723 
3,632 
27.5 
35.6 
4.9 
6.8 
Hungary 
54,322 
7,286 58.3 72.9 12.2 13.6 
Poland 
45,514 
10,138 14.6 26.3 10.2 18.9 
Romania 
165,013 
13,920 69.5 62.1 36.9 26.0 
Serbia 31,567 
3,568 
35.7 
35.2 
7.1 
6.7 
Slovakia 49,034 
5,379 100.0  100.0  11.0  10.1 
Ukraine 
55,895 
6,217  9.3 12.8 12.5 11.6 
Total 446,626 
53,513 
28.4 
34.9 
100.0 
100.0 
Source: National statistical yearbooks. 
It is especially high along the external “market line” (a chain of cities), where it is 
more than 200/km2. But this two areas, showing different densities of population 
cannot be regarded separately. The economic base for a significant share of the 
population in the densely populated area are the mountains (and their products). 
On the other hand, the population in the mountains would be even smaller without 
the demand of the population in the forelands for their services and products 
(Table 2). 
The development of the size of the population is the result of birth and death 
rates and migratory movement of the population. 
During the 20th century, birth rates in the Carpathian area were rather higher, 
higher than in other areas of Central Europe. The reasons for this were different: 
rural way of life, deeper religiosity, but also lower educational level. However, in 
the last decades, birth rates decreased radically, more than the respective national 
averages. They are still higher, than in the surrounding plain areas, but the differ-
ence is much smaller than before. 
The highest birth rates can be found in the proper mountainous areas in the 
Northeast Carpathians (in Romania, Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine). The low-
est birth rates are in Austria, Hungary and – interestingly – also in Poland and 
Slovakia (Table 3). 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
INTRODUCTION – THE CARPATHIANS: A EUROPEAN MACROREGION 
13 
Table 2 
The highest and lowest birth rates in the Carpathian area (2004) 
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Birth 
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Birth 
highest birth rates in the Carpathian 
rates 
lowest birth rates in the Carpathian 
rates 
area 
area 
Suceava (RO) 
12.4 
Südburgenland (AT) 
7.6 
Zakarpattia (UA) 
12.4 
Mittelburgenland (AT) 
7.8 
Prešovský kraj (SK) 
12.2 
Miasto Kraków (PL) 
8.1 
Košický kraj (SK) 
11.8 
Békés (HU) 
8.1 
Covasna (RO) 
11.7 
Centralny Sląski (PL) 
8.2 
Nowosądecki (PL) 
11.5 
Częstochowski (PL) 
8.2 
Harghita (RO) 
11.1 
Weinviertel (AT) 
8.2 
Maramureş (RO) 
11.0 
Nitrianský (SK) 
8.3 
Satu Mare (RO) 
11.0 
Wiener Umland/Nordteil (AT) 
8.3 
Mureş (RO) 
11.0 
Nordburgenland (AT) 
8.3 
Source: Eurostat. 
Table 3 
The highest and lowest death rates in the Carpathian area (2004) 
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Death  The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Death 
highest death rates in the Carpathian 
rates 
lowest death rates in the Carpathian 
rates 
area 
area 
Nógrád (HU) 
15.0 
Prešovský kraj (SK) 
8.1 
Sălaj (RO) 
14.5 
Rzeszowsko-Tarnobrzeski (PL) 
8.1 
Békés (HU) 
14.4 
Nowosądecki (PL) 
8.1 
Arad (RO) 
14.2 
Rybnicko-Jastrzębski (PL) 
8.2 
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (HU) 
13.8 
Mostviertel-Eisenwurzen (AT) 
8.7 
Mehedinţi (RO) 
13.8 
Bielsko-Bialski (PL) 
8.8 
Heves (HU) 
13.7 
Miasto Kraków (PL) 
8.9 
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (HU) 
13.7 
Krakowsko-Tarnowski (PL) 
9.0 
Bihor (RO) 
13.7 
Žilinský kraj (SK) 
9.2 
Csongrád (HU) 
13.6 
Krośnieńsko-Przemyski (PL) 
9.2 
Source: Eurostat. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
14 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
The regions with the highest death rates are exclusively in Hungary and Ro-
mania – mostly in Hungary – and in the southern part of the Carpathian area. The 
regions with the lowest death rate are exclusively in Poland and Slovakia – mostly 
in Poland – and in the northern part of the Carpathian area. Low death rates are 
mostly due to the younger age structure of the population in this regions, due to 
the former higher birth rates. 
Natural increase and decrease is the difference between birth rate and death 
rate. Considering, that death rates are even more differentiated in the area than 
birth rates, the ranking according birth rates and natural increase differs substan-
tially. 
As it can be seen, natural increase is more in correlation with the death rates 
than with birth rates. Natural increase is highest in the Polish and Slovak regions, 
lowest in the southern Hungarian and Romanian regions. 
What is interesting, that is the contrast between Vienna and Budapest. While 
Vienna belongs to the ten regions with the highest natural increase, Budapest 
belongs to the ten regions with the lowest natural increase in the Carpathian area. 
Vienna has both higher birth rate and lower death rate than Budapest. 
It has to be noted that even the highest natural increase figures shown in Table 
4  are rather low in international comparison. The dominant trend in the Carpa-
thian area is natural decrease. Out of the 88 NUTS3 regions of the Carpathian 
area, only in 23 was natural increase registered, in the other 65 region natural 
population movement had a negative balance. 
Table 4 
The highest natural increase and decrease in the Carpathian area (2004) 
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Natural  The 10 NUTS3 regions with the 
Natural 
highest natural increase in the 
increase  largest natural decrease in the 
decrease 
Carpathian area 
Carpathian area 
Prešovský kraj (SK) 
4.1 
Békés (HU) 
–6.3 
Nowosądecki (PL) 
3.4 
Nógrád (HU) 
–5.8 
Košický kraj (SK) 
2.2 
Arad (RO) 
–5.0 
Mostviertel-Eisenwurzen (AT) 
1.9 
Csongrád (HU) 
–4.8 
Rzeszowsko-Tarnobrzeski (PL) 
1.7 
Mehedinţi (RO) 
–4.7 
Suceava (RO) 
1.6 
Budapest (HU) 
–4.7 
Žilinský kraj (SK) 
1.2 
Heves (HU) 
–4.7 
Rybnicko-Jastrzębski (PL) 
1.1 
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (HU) 
–4.2 
Krośnieńsko-Przemyski (PL) 
0.6 
Sălaj (RO) 
–4.1 
Wien (AT) 
0.6 
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (HU) 
–3.8 
Source: Eurostat. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
INTRODUCTION – THE CARPATHIANS: A EUROPEAN MACROREGION 
15 
This natural population movement is modified by the migration. The dimen-
sion of migration is substantially larger than that of natural changes, therefore its 
impact on the number of population in the individual regions is substantially more 
important: 
The largest immigration can be experienced in the surrounding agglomeration 
of two big cities: Vienna (Wiener Umland/Nordteil, Wiener Umland/Südteil, 
Sankt Pölten, Nordburgenland) and Budapest (Pest county, Komárom-Esztergom 
county). Significant is the inflow of migrants in Vienna itself (while in Budapest a 
substantial out migration can be experienced). Substantial is the immigration in 
Hungary in Győr-Moson-Sopron and Csongrád counties (to the last one mainly 
from the neighbouring countries Serbia and Romania), and to Kraków and its 
surrounding. 
Concerning out-migration, the NUTS3 regions of two countries are among the 
top 10: Romania, and – surprisingly – Austria. 
The regions with the highest our-migration figures indicated in Table 5 are not 
the less developed agricultural counties, but the industrialised ones (Hunedoara, 
Sibiu, Braşov, Caraş-Severin and Timiş). It is partly the consequence of the 
collapse of industrial plants established in the socialist period. On the other hand, 
skilled, more mobile workers of these counties are those, who can find work in 
other regions, especially abroad. 
Table 5 
The largest net migration in the Carpathian area (2000–2004) 
The 10 NUTS3 regions 
Per 1000  The 10 NUTS3 regions 
Per 1000 
with the largest net inflow of 
inhabi-
with the largest net outflow of 
inhabi- 
migrants in the Carpathian area 
tants 
migrants in the Carpathian area 
tants 
Wiener Umland/Nordteil (AT) 28.5 
Hunedoara 
(RO) 
–14.1 
Pest county (HU) 
20.2 
Braşov (RO) 
–12.9 
Nordburgenland (AT) 
10.2 
Waldviertel (AT) 
–12.4 
Wien (AT) 
9.3 
Sibiu (RO) 
–11.7 
Győr-Moson-Sopron (HU) 
9.1 
Caras-Severin (RO) 
–10.0 
Wiener Umland Südteil (AT) 
7.7 
Satu Mare (RO) 
–9.6 
Sankt Pölten (AT) 
7.4 
Bacau (RO) 
–9.5 
Komárom-Esztergom (HU) 
5.6 
Harghita (RO) 
–9.5 
Csongrád (HU) 
5.5 
Timiş (RO) 
–8.3 
Krakowsko-Tarnovski (PL) 
3.4 Weinviertel 
(AT) 
–8.1 
Source: Author’s construction. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
16 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
In Austria, Weinviertel and Waldviertel are the less developed NUTS3 regions 
of Austria, their GDP per capita is only one third of that of Vienna. They are in 
peripheral situation and the opening of the borders has not created sufficient op-
portunities so far. But the main reason for migration should be their relative vi-
cinity to one of Europe’ most prosperous regions: Vienna.  
In a longer historical perspective: the proper Carpathian area was, since the 
19th century, one of the main sources of European emigration. The restricted eco-
nomic carrying capacity of the mountainous areas and the high population growth 
resulted in very high emigration figures shown in Table 5. The numbers of emi-
gration statistics of Eastern Slovakia, Galicia, Szeklerland at the beginning of the 
20th century were comparable with the respective figures of Britain and Ireland. A 
part of this emigration was of temporary character. Slovak workers, for example, 
worked for some years in the USA and then returned to their home country with 
their savings. 
But anyway, because of these large emigration flows, the number of popula-
tion did not increase at a rate, which could have been supposed based on the high 
birth rates. In contrast: there are regions, where the population is less than a cen-
tury ago. Besides voluntary migration, war, forced re-settlement and the holocaust 
also contributed to the slower growth or even decrease of population in some 
areas (for example in Galicia and in the Banat). 
1.4  Ethnic and religious affiliations 
There are 8 countries in the Carpathian region, so its population is divided be-
tween different nations and ethnic groups. But even within the individual coun-
tries, the population is of multiethnic character. There are Hungarians and 
Ukrainians in Slovakia, Ukrainians and Germans in Poland, Romanians, Slovaks, 
Hungarians, Poles, Russians and Germans in the Ukraine, Hungarians, Germans, 
Ukrainians and Serbs in Romania, Romanians, Germans, Slovaks and Serbs in 
Hungary, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks in Serbia, Croatians in Austria and 
Poles in the Czech Republic in the Carpathian area. Roma population is spread in 
the whole Carpathian region, their number in the whole Carpathaian region is 
more than 2,5 million. 
But even Ukrainian population in the Carpathians is divided into different eth-
nic groups. There are Rusyns, Lemkos, Bojkos and Hutsuls, all living in the Car-
pathian Mountains. Mountain chains divided and isolated them from each other, 
therefore they could develop their own dialects and ethnic identities. In South 
Poland, in the Carpathians live the Górals, whose language is based on Polish, but 
contains many words from the Slovak and Vlach languages. The Szeklers in the 
Eastern Carpathians speak Hungarian, but their origin is different from the other 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
INTRODUCTION – THE CARPATHIANS: A EUROPEAN MACROREGION 
17 
Hungarians. Another Hungarian group, the “Csángos”, lives in the Eastern side of 
the Carpathians, in Moldavia. Because of the long time of isolation, a substantial 
part of Csángos have lost already their Hungarian language and speak Romanian. 
The “moţi” in the Apuseni Mountains speak Romanian, and regard themselves 
Romanians, but supposedly they have also other origin than the other Romanians. 
Many Czech citizens in the Czech Carpathian region regard themselves as Mora-
vians or Silesians. Summarising: there is a very colourful ethnic mosaic in the 
Carpathians. 
The composition of the Carpathian population according to religious affiliation 
is also diversified. The majority of the Polish, Slovak, Czech, Austrian and Hun-
garian population is Roman Catholic. Nevertheless, among those Hungarians, 
who live in the Carpathian region, the majority is Protestant (Calvinist). A minor-
ity of the Slovaks and Germans in Southern Transylvania are Lutherans. A sub-
stantial minority of the Szeklers belongs to the Transylvanian Unitarian Church. 
The larger part of Romanians and Serbs are Eastern Orthodox Christians. 
The Eastern Catholic Church (or the Greek Catholic Church) has a special sig-
nificance in the Carpathian region, because its adherents in Europe live almost 
exclusively in the North-Eastern or Eastern Carpathian area. Ethnically, they are 
mostly Ukrainians and Romanians but there are also Slovaks and Hungarians. 
Originally, they were Orthodox Christians, but the Polish King in 1595 (Brest), 
the Habsburg Emperor in 1696 (Uzhgorod) persuaded them to enter into Union 
with Rome, while retaining their rites and customs (for example married priests). 
After Russia (and later the Soviet Union) annexed this area, the Greek Catholic 
Chirch was eliminated, and its adherents were reorientated to the Orthodox 
Church. Similar measures were taken in Romania, Czechoslovakia after World 
War II. After 1990 the Greek Catholic Churches have been revived in these 
countries and now they are competing with the Orthodox Churches for the faithful 
people. 
Before World War II, the Carpathian area was one of the most important 
settlement area of Jewish people in Europe. Their number in the Carpathian area 
was more than 5 million. The Holocaust, emigration and natural decrease have 
radically reduced their presence in the area. They number hardly 100 thousand in 
the area. 
The intensity of practising the religion – in terms of church-going – is different 
in the region. Religion is practiced most frequently and intensively in Poland and 
Slovakia. Orthodox Romanians Ukrainians and Austrian occupy a middle posi-
tion. Czechs and Hungarians are the relatively less religious people. 
In the last decades – in all countries of the region, although to different extent 
– new Religious Movements and small Churches can attract increasing number of 
people. The deterioration of living conditions, the collapse of earlier systems and 
ideals, and sometimes their charitable activities contribute to this growing number 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
18 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
of adherents. Interestingly, their success is larger just in mountainous regions than 
in other areas. 
1.5  Employment 
The employment situation in the Carpathian region is difficult. Some of the re-
gions with the highest rate of unemployment are to be found in the Carpathian 
area. What is even more problematic, it is the very low activity rates. It means 
that a large part of the working age population is inactive, they do not enter at all 
the labour market (because they retired early or they are women in the households 
or they stopped to look for employment). The low GDP/capita figures are – to a 
substantial extent – due to these low activity rates. 
Unemployment is the largest in the Polish and Slovak regions, while in respect 
to activity rate, the lowest figures in the whole European Union can be found in 
Hungary, partly in Romania (Table 6). 
To raise this activity level to 60 percent (the level aimed at in the Lisbon strat-
egy) needs very serious efforts in the respective regions and countries. 
Table 6 
The 10 NUTS3 regions with the highest unemployment rates 
in the Carpathian area (2004) 
 NUTS3 
Region 

1. 
Košický kraj (SK) 
24.7 
2. 
Banskobystrický kraj (SK) 
23.9 
3. Częstochowski (PL) 
21.5 
4. 
Prešovský kraj (SK) 
21.5 
5. Centralny 
śląski (PL) 
19.5 
6. 
Nitrianský kraj (SK) 
17.8 
7. Krośnieńsko-Przemyski (PL) 
17.6 
8. Rybnicko-Jastrzębski (PL) 
17.5 
9. Nowosądecki (PL) 
16.3 
10. Rzeszowsko-Tarnobrzeski 
(PL) 
15.9 
Source: Eurostat. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
INTRODUCTION – THE CARPATHIANS: A EUROPEAN MACROREGION 
19 
Employment and activity level depends on the economic structure of the re-
spective regions as well. High share of private small-scale agriculture can serve 
temporally as a buffer against unemployment. It is the case in Southeast Poland 
and in some parts of Romania. In the Ukraine, for a long time, unemployed and 
unpaid people remained on the payroll, otherwise they would have lost those so-
cial benefits which were vital for their existence. Therefore, employment statistics 
are not fully reliable in every country. For the time being, there is no region in the 
Carpathian area which would fulfil the Lisbon criteria (Table 7). 
Table 7 
The 10 NUTS2 regions with the lowest activity rates of the 15–64 years old 
population (2004) 
 NUTS2 
Region 

1. 
Észak-Magyarország (Northern-Hungary) (HU) 
45.0 
2. 
Észak-Alföld (North-Plain) (HU) 
45.6 
3. 
Dél-Alföld (South-Plain) (HU) 
47.4 
4. Centru 
(RO) 
50.4 
5. Vest 
(RO) 
51.4 
6. Sud-est 
(RO) 
51.6 
7. Nord-vest 
(RO) 
51.9 
8. 
Śląskie (PL) 
52.2 
9. Közép-Dunántúl 
(Central-Transdanubia) (HU) 
53.3 
10. 
Nyugat-Dunántúl (West-Transdanubia) (HU) 
53.7 
Source: Eurostat. 
The share of agriculture in employment is still very large in some countries. 
There are regions in Romania, where nearly the half of the active population is 
engaged in agriculture. This high agricultural employment emerged after 1990, 
when formerly collectivized agricultural areas were privatized and many people, 
who have lost their jobs in industry and other non-agricultural branches of the 
economy, hoped to find the source of their existence in privatized agriculture. It 
is, however, obvious, that a large part of these small farms is not competitive in 
the globalized economy, so these jobs cannot be regarded as sustainable in the 
long run. 
But too high percentage of work-force in the secondary sector (industry) can-
not be either regarded as advantageous. On the one hand, it signalizes an insuffi-
cient share of services, on the other hand, in the Carpathian area, it may signalize 
also a need for industrial restructuring and insufficient productivity of industries. 

Introduction – The Carpathians: a European Macroregion. 
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.  
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 9-20. p. Discussion Papers, Special 
20 
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA 
Regions with overly high agricultural employment can be found mostly in 
Romania. Out of the two Polish regions (Krakowsko-tarnowski) the reason might 
be, that the city of Cracow is not included in the region, therefore its character is 
markedly rural. It is not the case in the Nowosądecki region. Additionally, this 
region is in the Carpathian Mountains, where conditions for agricultural produc-
tion are not very favourable (Table 8). 
Table 8 
Regional specialization in the Carpathian area (2004) 
The 10 NUTS3 regions 

The 10 NUTS3 regions 

 
with the highest employment share in 
with the highest employment share in 
agriculture in the Carpathian area 
industry in the Carpathian area 
1. Bistriţa-Năsăud (RO) 
53.5  Trenčianský kraj (SK) 
48.4 
2. 
Dâmbovita (RO) 
45.8  Zlínský (CZ) 
46.7 
3. Bacău (RO) 
44.4  Komárom-Esztergom (HU) 
45.4 
4. 
Suceava (RO) 
43.1  Moravskoslezský (CZ) 
44.1 
5. 
Vrancea (RO) 
42.9  Hunedoara (RO) 
42.0 
6. Neamţ  (RO) 
38.1  Braşov (RO) 
41.6 
7. Mehedinţi (RO) 
37.8  Olomoucký (CZ) 
40.8 
8. Nowosądecki (PL) 
34.3  Rybnicko-Jastrzębski (PL) 
40.6 
9. Krakowsko-Tarnowski 
(PL) 
34.0 Győr-Moson-Sopron (HU) 
40.3 
10. Maramureş (RO) 
33.4  Heves (HU) 
40.0 
*Romania 2001. 
 
Source: Eurostat, Romanian Census 2001.