This article examines the demographic and economic determinants of post-socialist regions in comparison with Western European regions, as a consequence of the systemic transformations of the 1990s. The study aimed to identify the scale of regional shrinkage in post-socialist countries and to assess demographic and economic disparities relative to Western European regions. Demographic and economic data analysis was conducted and supplemented by the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test to achieve this goal. The research covered European Union regions divided into two main groups – post-socialist and Western European – and their subcategories: shrinking and non-shrinking regions. The study period covers the years 2014–2024. The research results reveal persistent differences across EU regions: progressive depopulation observed in Eastern and Central Europe, the ageing of society in Western Europe, and the persistent economic underdevelopment of post-socialist regions. However, these disparities may diminish in the coming years due to a relatively favourable demographic and labour market situation in post-socialist areas.
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
