Inequalities in the provinces of Abruzzo: A comparative study through the indices of deprivation and principal component analysis

Abstract

The indices of deprivation are a valuable tool to measure the socioeconomic disadvantage in certain geographical areas of interest. This study aims to compare inequalities between the provinces of Abruzzo over the last two decades suggesting some indices of deprivation to capture the key aspects of the great wealth of information relating to population census. Specifically, we propose three indices of deprivation to measure the material and social disadvantage. Moreover, a principal component analysis is performed using the most know indicators of deprivation. Using these methods, we observe an increase in the proportion of disadvantaged areas in the Abruzzo region from 1991 to 2011 in its four provinces.