Regional differentiation of the quality of life in Slovakia

Th e very beginnings upon the quality of life lead to antique period. In modern times society of the West began to deal with it in 60?s aft er revelation that the wealth-growth did not correspond with the growth of contentment of life at all. One observes its study as a sequence, in which the key-elements are interpretation and defi nition. Th e quality of life can be expressed resp. evaluated only vicariously, and that is by means of its indicators. In the spatial dimension indicators are usually aggregated into domains. We had identifi ed 21 indicators in domains of the prosperity, deprivation and human capital. In offi ciating of the function of particular indicators we used the method of expert scaling. Th e overall statement from applied indicators and consequently of the quality of life is the Index of the quality of life. We had enumerated it as the sum of transformed variables, to which the expert panel had assigned a scale. Th e regional disparities were quantifi ed by the Gini coeffi cient. We can observe a considerable diff erentiation in the spatial output of the domain of prosperity (map 1). Th e divisions of middle and higher values can be found on the left from the divisions-line in direction SW ? NE, starting with Senec, Nitra, Zvolen and Poprad. From the divisions-line on the right there is situated only the municipality Košice. In the domain of deprivation (map 2) one perceives semi-circling organization of divisions around a group of divisions with the lowest level (and consequently the most deprived) in the South of the Central Slovakia. Noteworthy is the high quality (and so low deprivation) of the divisions in the North of Slovakia and the divisions of the region Prešov. In the domain of human resources asserts West and North-South gradient. Th e region of Bratislava constitutes the ?pole? of human capital as the only one from the group of regions, which follows from the fact that the high level in the domain is not reached by any from mentioned divisions. Th ere can be deduced several conclusions from the regional diff erentiation of the Index of quality of life in Slovakia: ? exercise of West and North-South gradient, ? the highest level of the quality of life reaches the region of Bratislava. Its position posed the character of a ?pole?, because the other divisions follow with a distance, ? the group of divisions with middle (from outside-Bratislava with the highest) quality of life gravitates in continous strip from Bratislava by Považie towards Poprad. Isolated divisions with high level of development like Nitra, Prešov, Košice etc. belong to the group as well, ? the lowest quality of life in Slovakia is reached by the divisions in continuous strip in the South of the Central and East Slovakia, to which belong also isolated divisions such as Komárno, Turčianske Teplice and Medzilaborce.