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The underlying factors of the COVID‐19 spatially uneven spread. Initial evidence from regions in nine EU countries
Author(s) -
Kapitsinis Nikos
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
regional science policy and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.342
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1757-7802
DOI - 10.1111/rsp3.12340
Subject(s) - covid-19 , pandemic , demographics , urbanization , economic geography , geography , development economics , economic growth , demographic economics , economics , demography , biology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , virology , medicine , disease , sociology , pathology
The novel coronavirus COVID‐19 was brought to the global spotlight in early 2020 and has already had significant impacts on daily life, while the effects could last for a long period. However, these impacts appear to have been regionally differentiated, since similar to previous pandemics, geography plays an important role in viruses' diffusion. This paper enriches our knowledge about the initial territorial impact of the pandemic, from January to May 2020, studying the spread of COVID‐19 across 119 regional economies in nine EU countries and explaining its underlying factors. Air quality, demographics, global interconnectedness, urbanization trends, historic trends in health expenditure as well as the policies implemented to mitigate the pandemic were found to have influenced the regionally uneven mortality rate of COVID‐19.