DIFFERENTIATION OF THE SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NUTS-3 SUBREGIONS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The article focuses on the analysis of the level of the socio-economic development of 239 NUTS-3 level subregions of Central-Eastern Europe based on 31 indicators categorised within the three subcomponents (factors) of the regional development: the natural environment, the human capital, as well as entrepreneurship and innovativeness. The purpose of the article is to specify the variation in the level of socio-economic development of the subregions within the arrangement of the NUTS-3 units. The level of socio-economic development, as well as the level of the develop-ment of its factors, shall be presented based on a synthetic gauge exhibiting the taxonomic distance of a particular sub-region from the established pattern of development. In the study, a hypothesis shall be verified according to which the socio-economic development of Central-Eastern European subregions is highly varied, and its highest level is registered in the subregions located around the capitals of the researched states.