Project Regions
Yorkshire and Humberside in the UK
The Yorkshire and Humber region is located in the North of England covering 15,413 sq km, constituting 6.3% of the landmass of England. It stretches from Northallerton in the north to Sheffield in the south and from Settle in the west to Grimsby in the east and includes the four sub-regions of Humber, North, West and South Yorkshire. The region has a population of around 5 million people, many of whom live in the major cities: Bradford; Leeds; York; Sheffield; and, Hull. There is a working age population of 3 million with 2.3 million economically active adults earning an average gross weekly wage of £425.51 (compared with £475.08 for the UK average). There are approximately 167,000 businesses and the regional Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2004 was £71.3 billion or £14,222 per head compared with the UK average of £16,339.
The Western Turkish Region of Thrace
The Thrace region is located in the North-West of Turkey covering 24,098 sq km, constituting 2.96% of the landmass of Turkey. It stretches from Greek and Bulgarian borders on the North West end of Turkey, northern part of Çanakkale and the Marmara Sea on the south west, Black Sea on the east and Kocaeli on the south. The region has a population of almost 12 million people, 16.77% of the country population in Edirne, Kirklareli, Tekirdag and Istanbul. 91% of the population lives in Istanbul, the commercial metropolis in Turkey. 30% of the active business enterprises and 34.5% of the working population are located in Thrace. There are 12,750 Small and Medium Enterprises active in the region and average GDP per capita is $3,024, very close to the average in Turkey which is $3,044.
East Macedonia and Thrace in Greece
The regions we are focusing on are Central Macedonia (CM) and East Macedonia-Thrace (EMTH) at NUTS 2 level, which are in fact engulfed within the triangle Sofia-Thessaloniki-Istanbul. These two regions are named by the common name "Voreia Ellada". The region of Central Macedonia (CM) dominates the regional economic outlook in all respects mostly due to the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, which is playing a key role in the regional economics. On the other hand the region of East Macedonia-Thrace (EMTH) is far less developed despite significant progress that has taken place over the last decade, particularly in Thrace.
The South Eastern Bulgarian Region
The South and East Bulgaria region, as defined by the MIRIAD project, includes four out of the six planning regions (NUTS 2 level) in Bulgaria - South-West region, South-Central region, South-East region, and North-East region. It covers an area of about 82 393.7 sq km, which means 74.2% of the country territory. It includes the biggest planning region in Bulgaria - South Central, forming 24.8% of the total area of the country. The overall region has population size of 6 064 938 people, giving 79% of the total Bulgarian population. With respect to population the biggest subregion is the Southwestern planning region, where its size reaches 2 116 791 people, or 27.6% of the total of the country. In 2006 the region as a whole provides the 83.3% of the country's GDP level. It is characterized by high inter- and intra regional disparities in economic development.A leading place among the consisting planning regions occupies again Southwestern planning region, producing in 2005 48.6% of the region's GDP and 40.5% of the country's GDP.