In our study, we examined six demographically declining and shrinking settlements in Greater Cumania, a traditional Eastern-Hungarian cultural region, which is considered an internal peripheral region: we used statistical data and development documents, loss mapping and the Kruskal-Wallis test methodology.
Analysis of the loss maps of the six municipalities showed that on average, municipalities rated their losses as slightly less severe than medium.
The statistical test showed that, although their natural and demographic conditions are very similar, the municipalities have followed a markedly different development path, with different potential for emerging from their peripheral existence and different resilience to challenges.
In the light of these analyses, it can be concluded that the source of the problem is basically the quality of the local society: the average for Greater Cumania is less educated than the national average, its educational attainment is lower and its level of cultural aspiration is very low.
In the six settlements studied, it can be generally stated that the necessary infrastructure is available, the local authorities often outperform in development (relying almost exclusively on EU and state co-financing and tenders), but local society does not have sufficient financial and moral capital to maintain the settlements.
In the light of this, the decline of local societies is clear: the study does not predict development based on endogenous internal resources, but rather a slow decline, which is still slow today, but which is likely to accelerate in the light of global, national and local socio-economic, political and environmental processes in the historic Greater Cumania.

1. Tibor KOVÁCS PhD; 2. Csaba RUSZKAI PhD; 3. Mária VASVÁRI PhD
1. Municipality of Kisújszállás; 2. Eszterházy Károly Catholic University; 3. Debrecen University

 
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