Spatial variability of the socio-economic development in terms of population and settlement at the level of NUTS 4 units. The case study of Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania

ENThe aim of the study is to analyze disparities in socio-economic development in terms of population and settlement in supranational dimension. The analysis was carried out on the example of three countries: Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania and refers to units of local level – NUTS 4, with 379, 79, and 60, respectively, units. The time range of research covers the period 2000–2010. The main result of the analysis is identification of three types of areas: areas of growth, transition and stagnation in terms of the population-settlement for these three countries treated together as a single object at a local level (NUTS 4). We also investigate the spatial auto-correlation with the use of the global statistics I – Moran, together with an analysis of the local index of spatial dependence (LISA) and separate determinants that most affect the level of socio-economic development value measured by the synthetic index in terms of population and settlement at the local level. Key words: population, settlement, NUTS 4, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania.