Classification o f greek municipalities according to their socio-economic characteristics as derived from the recent (2001) census

Abstract

This article aims at exploring the socio-economic structures of Greek municipalities and classifying them into homogeneous groups. The analysis is based on multivariate statistical analysis techniques applied to variables that were measured during the recent (2001) census. First, we perform principal components analysis; starting with 348 variables we get 37 principal components -linear combinations of the original variables- that represent the majority of information contained in the sample. Next, the principal components are used in the application of clustering techniques so that municipalities are classified into a relatively small number of homogeneous groups. We compare results related to various clustering methods; the most informative ones are presented into graphs and maps.