DISTRIBUTION DIFFERENTIATION OF AID FUNDS FOR AGRICULTURE IN POLAND – AN ANALYSIS USING MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL METHODS

The article presents an example of applying multidimensional statistical methods in the ranking of provinces in terms of the amount of funds received from the selected programs implemented under the Rural Development Programme (RDP).The purpose of this paper is to build the ranking and specify the homogeneous groups of provinces in regard to the analysed attributes. On the basis of volatility analysis and a matrix of correlation coefficients, six variables characterizing this issue were chosen for the final calculation. The paper uses three methods which enable multidimensional statistical analysis, i.e. the measure of Hellwig, the Czekanowski Diagram and Prim’s dendrite. All the mentioned methods made it possible to draw the same conclusion, namely that the provinces which have been using EU funds supporting agricultural activities to the greatest extent are zachodnipomorskie, pomorskie and warminsko-mazurskie. The lowest positions are occupied by podkarpackie, małopolskie and śląskie.