A Socio-Economic Portrait of the Autonomous Region of the Azores

Abstract

The present study aims to deepen the knowledge in the Autonomous Region of the Azores' sub-regional areas. By applying Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis to a set of essential variables of this region's census data, one can study the relation between those sub-regions and the chosen variables at the municipality level. This type of analysis is useful in the sense that by characterizing a sub-region, one can withdraw the significant influencers of its socio-economic outcomes. Moreover, due to its natural dispersion, being able to group the subregions or municipalities by similarity might be a pivotal factor to apply the right governmental policies to each group by playing an important decision-making criterium for territorial planning and economic development.