Analysis of regional development with use of multivariate statistical methods

The paper deals with differentiation of regional entities within the Czech Republic based on study of human potential. The human factor has been defined by 22 variables from three domains: population density, demographic indicators and economic activities of inhabitants. The variables have been recorded by regions and selected districts of the C.R. in 1994-2004, for computation purposes they have been represented by their averages and standardized. Principal component method has been employed for solution, facilitating to reduce number of the variables without any considerable loss of information, to select the most significant factors for a given area and to aggregate the variables into larger groups (principal components). Two extensive methods have been constructed. The first one has been based on the C.R. regions, the second one on the data from the Vysočina Region districts. Solution results demonstrate different roles of the separate aggregate variables in regional development. While in the C.R. as a whole, the most difficult problem is population ageing, growth of urban population and unemployment, in the Vysočina Region it is the development of small villages and of countryside as a whole, and unemployment. The method used is suiteble generally for study and assessment of regional development and it brings many objective information for decision-making process.

Keywords: regional differentiation, regional development, human potential, community, countryside, Vysočina Region, demography, unemployment, Principal Component Method

Grants and funding:

Příspěvek vznikl v rámci řešení projektu QG60030 "Strategie využití sociálního a lidského kapitálu při revitalizaci venkova v kraji Vysočina".