ROMANIAN RURAL AREA TYPOLOGY BY THE INEQUALITY LEVEL - A MULTICRITERIAL APPROACH – Monica Mihaela Tudor Monica Mihaela Tudor Institute of Agricultural Economics Bucharest, Romania

One of the most important aspects of the economic and social rhetoric in the last years, in academic and political circles is SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITY: complexity and dimension of the inter-individual inequalitiescomplexity and dimension of the inter-individual inequalities interdependence between the different aspects governing people’s livesinterdependence between the different aspects governing people’s lives impact of the inequalityes upon human development in generalimpact of the inequalityes upon human development in general

Project description Title: “Economic-social models to attenuate the inequalities in the rural areas by regions” Period: 2008 – 2011 Financed by : Romanian Ministry of Education and Research “Partnership” Program Coordinator of the project: Institute of Agricultural Economics, Bucharest Partners: Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Bucharest Institute of Economic and Social Research, Iasi University of Pitesti

Inequality - definition Inequality in opportunities between communesInequality in opportunities between communes Deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levelDeprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption level

Objectives I.Identify major sources of inequality in the Romanian rural area II. The theoretical model aggregating the rural inequality indicators was constructed on the basis of those aspects of inequality with the greatest mutual driving force and permits the evaluation of the socio-economic inequality level that the population in a given area is facing. III. T ypology of the Romanian rural area by rural inequality level

Methodology Diagnosis analyses of the Romanian rural areaDiagnosis analyses of the Romanian rural area – - identification of a set of socio-economic dimensions describing the condition and extent of rural inequality Factorial analysesFactorial analyses - identify major sources of inequality in the Romanian rural area Cluster methodCluster method - The hierarchy of rural communities by the socio- economic inequality level reveals the areas that are most vulnerable to the inequality risk

I. Identify major sources of inequality in the Rural Romania (1) MATRIX OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITY CRITERIA Criterion 1: TERRITORY EQUIPMENT – provides information on the on-dwelling comfort; rural technical infrastructure as support to rural development – to business environment included. Criterion 2: DEMO-SOCIAL DIMENSION – provides information on the local demographic perspectives, on the disintegration of family values, living attractiveness of the zone and the socio-economic opportunities that the respective area is presumed to provide, etc. Criterion 3: SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE – provides information on the educational and health infrastructure and them adequacy for the community needs; potential access to ICT, etc. Criterion 4: ECONOMIC DIMENSION – provides information on paid job access opportunities and the rural population’s dependence on the social transfers and agriculture, agricultural land operation intensification, development of economic activities complementary to agriculture, the abilities to promote rural services complementary to agriculture, etc. Criterion 5: INVESTMENTS – reveals the projection on the future development potential of the rural community, etc. On the basis of the diagnosis analyses by regions, a set of five criteria has been selected describing and conditioning the rural inequality level in Romania.

I. Identify major sources of inequality in the rural Romania (2) Each criterion is associated to a number of indicators that describe the inequality level, calculated at the level of commune, on the basis of available statistical data from the NIS local database 2008 CriteriaIndicators % in total variation of cumulated inequality indicatorscumulated by criteria TERRITORY EQUIPMENT Living floor/inhabitant (m²/inhabitant) Drinking water quantity supplied to domestic users (m³/inhabitant)10.65 Simple length of drinking water supply network – km2.64 Simple length of sewerage network - km3.01 Simple length of natural gas supply pipelines - km6.59 DEMO-SOCIAL DIMENSION Natural increase/1000 inhabitants Divorces/1000 inhabitants3.70 Change of domicile balance/1000 inhabitants2.64 Change of residence balance/1000 inhabitants14.00 External migration balance/1000 inhabitants5.37 SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Enrolled pupils/teacher Inhabitants/physician3.81 PC/1000 inhabitants8.10 ECONOMIC DIMENSION Number of employees/1000 inhabitants % arable land in agricultural land4.22 % area under vineyards and orchards in total agricultural land area 4.36 Average number of beds/ accommodation unit6.46 Number of nights spent in accommodation units in 2008 / bed 3.28 INVESTMENTSDwellings finished in 2008 / 1000 existing dwellings3.63 Importance of socio-economic inequality criteria and indicators in explaining the general variation of the inequality level between rural communities in Romania

Socio-economic inequality criteria TERRITORY EQUIPMENT DEMO-SOCIAL DIMENSION SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMIC DIMENSION INVESTMENTS Importance of socio-economic inequality criteria by regions (% in total variation of cumulated inequality)

III. Typology of the Romanian rural area by rural inequality level (1) According to the cumulated intensity of the manifestation of the factors that describe the socio-economic inequalities : Community profile of rural inequality in Romania rural communities characterized by a lower rural socio-economic inequality level (cluster I – 20.5% of communes ) rural communities characterized by a medium rural socio-economic inequality level (cluster II – 40.7% of communes ) rural communities characterized by a higher rural socio-economic inequality level (cluster III – 38.8% of communes ).

III. Typology of the Romanian rural area by rural inequality level(2) CriteriaIndicators Cluster Total rural IIIIII TERRITORY EQUIPMENT Living area/inhabitant (square meters/inhabitant) Drinking water quantity supplied to domestic consumers (m³/inhabitant) Simple length of drinking water distribution network–km Simple length of sewerage system – km Simple length of natural gas supply pipelines - km DEMO-SOCIAL DIMENSION Natural population increase/1000 inhabitants Divorces/1000 inhabitants Balance of change of domicile/1000 inhabitants Balance of change of residence /1000 inhabitants External migration balance /1000 inhabitants SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Enrolled pupils/teacher Inhabitants / physician PC/1000 inhabitants ECONOMIC DIMENSION Number of employees/1000 inhabitants % arable land in agricultural area % area under vineyards and orchards in total agricultural area Average number of beds / accommodation unit Number of nights spent on accommodation units in 2008 / accommodation bed INVESTMENTSDwellings finished in 2008 / 1000 existing dwellings Average value of rural inequality matrix indicators by clusters

Conclusions demographic disequilibria (demo-social dimension).The hierarchy of the main inequality sources in Romania’s rural area led to the conclusion that the element that mostly conditions the socio-economic inequality in rural Romania is those regarding the demographic disequilibria (demo-social dimension). This is followed, as source of socio-economic inequality : -Territory equipment -Economic development of the area providing job opportunities -Social infrastructure -Investments

Conclusions The rural communities characterized by a MEDIUM and LOW level of rural socio-economic inequality (Cluster II and I): → from the point of view of territorial distribution are mainly found in the mountain and plateau area; → these communes have a wide range of resources that provide them occupational opportunities.

Conclusions The rural communities that cumulate the most economic and social vulnerability sources (cluster III) are: Grouped into relatively compact areas, These are, in general, communes located in the plain areas, whose local economies highly depend on agriculture, Providing relatively few opportunities for ascending occupational mobility as the nearest areas are also less attractive to investors. Urgent corrective interventions are needed in these rural areas in order to remove the sources of social inequalities as there is the risk of an increase in the negative social and economic effects translated into the absence of available resources and access to resources that should sustain an acceptable human development for the 21st century.

CRISAN COMMUNETULCEA county CRISAN COMMUNE is located in TULCEA county According to the cumulated intensity of the manifestation of the factors that describe the socio-economic inequalities CRISAN COMMUNE IS INCLUDED IN CLUSTER I lower rural communities characterized by a lower rural socio-economic inequality level

CriteriaIndicators Cluster Total rural Crisan 2008 Crisa n 2011 IIIIII TERRITORY EQUIPMENT Living area/inhabitant (square meters/inhabitant) Drinking water quantity supplied to domestic consumers (m³/inhabitant) Simple length of drinking water distribution network–km Simple length of sewerage system – km Simple length of natural gas supply pipelines - km DEMO-SOCIAL DIMENSION Natural population increase/1000 inhabitants Divorces/1000 inhabitants Balance of change of domicile/1000 inhabitants Balance of change of residence /1000 inhabitants External migration balance /1000 inhabitants SOCIAL INFRASTRUCT URE Enrolled pupils/teacher Inhabitants / physician PC/1000 inhabitants ECONOMIC DIMENSION Number of employees/1000 inhabitants % arable land in agricultural area % area under vineyards and orchards in total agricultural area Average number of beds / accommodation unit Number of nights spent on accommodation units in one year / accommodation bed INVESTMENTS Dwellings finished in one year / 1000 existing dwellings Average value of rural inequality matrix indicators Crisan commune year TOTAL area (ha) out of which: agricultural area arable area pastures vineyards04

Thank you for your attention ! Monica Mihaela TUDOR Institute of Agricultural Economics Bucharest