Do better socioeconomic features of population mean more competitive regions?

The objective of the case study was to give an overview of differences between Hungarian regions from the aspect of socioeconomic factors. The paper deals with the distinct situations of NUTS 2 regions in order to get a general view of the country from that angle. Although, that approach is not the most detailed one, it makes possible to easily distinguish the competitive parts of the country. Secondary data were provided by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) and National Territorial Development and Spatial Planning Information System (TeIR) were used to present the distribution of population by various expositions. Unemployment rate, distribution of educational attainment, population growth, rate of ageing, vitality index, dependency ratio and GDP per capita were calculated and assembled to present the differences. The results are showing clearly, that Central Hungary (HU10), Central Transdanubia (HU21), Western Transdanubia (HU22) are currently competitive. The population of Southern Transdanubia (HU23) and Southern Great Plain (HU33) are aging, but stable from the view of economy related indexes. Northern Hungary (HU31) and Northern Great Plain (HU32) are considered laggards from that aspect, but have a considerable potential because of the age structure of the population. The paper also introduces some national and EU programmes which are meant to mitigate the effects of unfavourable situations.