Geographic Analysis of Territorial Disparities in Maramureş County

Abstract

After determining the development index at commune level, we have managed to sketch 4 advantaged areas and 3 disadvantaged ones. The most advantaged area is individualized around the county seat Baia Mare, the rest of the advantaged areas revolving around Sighetu-Marmaţiei, Borşa-Vişeu and Târgu Lapuş towns. The disadvantaged areas correspond mostly with the rural settlements situated afar from the high-polarizing centers at the county level (Baia Mare and Sighetu-Marmaţiei). This study reiterates the enormous discrepancy between the rural and urban areas, but also between the county seat city and all the other urban settlements. Maramureş County is situated somewhere at the lowest point in the counties hierarchy, not only because of its limited extension and of the precarious condition of the physical and social infrastructure, but also because of the chronic lack of investment in this area. Economically, Maramureş is characterized by a domination of the population employed in agriculture (the number of which has grown between the years 1990 and 2007, from 5% to 38%), in conjunction with a decrease in the number of population employed in the secondary sector (from 60% to 27%)