The change of the societal system after 1989 is fundamentally reflected in the geographical distribution of the economy and settlement. The transformations were dramatic in the last decade of the 20th century, both in the redistribution of the economy and in the qualitative re-evaluation of hierarchy of centers and metropolitan areas.
After 2000, the deepening of geographic differentiation was considerably reduced, but it became complex in nature: following the radical changes economic distribution there was also an increased differentiation in the development of the population. In this sense, it is possible to distinguish the period of the 1990s as a transformation period in its narrower concept; and, after 2000 post-transformation period, as a period with a limited range of transformations - but with a longer-term developmental orientation.