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
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.