Two faces of peripherality: Labour markets, poverty, and population dynamics in Hungary and Czechia

Abstract

This study investigates socioeconomic peripherality in Hungary and Czechia. Despite the current attention devoted to peripheries in post-communist societies, the authors argue that there is a lack of data-driven international comparisons of the socio-spatial outcomes of peripheralisation processes. In the study, the situations in Hungary and Czechia are compared to assess the validity of peripheralisation as a mutually reinforcing economic, social and demographic decline specifically affecting rural areas. First, the concentration of social problems such as unemployment and poverty is examined in economically weak rural areas. Second, the role of transport accessibility and remoteness is analysed. Third, the links between socioeconomic peripheralisation and population development are explored. The results indicate basic structural similarities in the development of peripherality in Czechia and Hungary; however, the Hungarian case corresponds much more than the Czech case to the concept of peripheralisation defined as interrelated processes of economic problems, the accumulation of poverty and social exclusion, and population shrinkage that especially affect remote rural localities. The authors conclude by discussing the role of historically shaped settlement structures, current population compositions, and overall development at the country level.