Competitiveness of the Hungarian regions

The present paper explores the competitiveness of the Hungarian counties (NUTS III) and regions (NUTS II) in two dimensions: in national scale and in European comparison. Competitiveness has been expressed by three interrelated economic parameters: a) per capita GDP; b) labor productivity; and c) employment rate. The paper concludes that regions in Hungary have reached three diff erent stages of economic development. A) Budapest Metropolitan Region (BMR) is a foremost growth pole of the country. It is a real knowledge based and innovation generating economic re-gion. B) North-western Hungary is in the stage of investment led development having a knowledge user economy without generating it locally. C) Northern and Eastern Hungary is in neo-Fordist stage of economic development, where economic restructuring just started; under-employment and rural crisis are widespread, with an exception of some larger cit-ies. In EU accession countries, BMR is a most competitive region, second only to Prague Agglomeration, whereas Eastern and Northern regions of Hungary have a weak position economically