The paper is based on research concerning the economic and social discrepancies among the regions of Hungary for years, especially focusing on the period since the EU accession. We have been analyzing the economic and social changes that happened due to the use of both national and EU funds. Based on our findings we can state that the differences between the most and the least developed regions have increased in the past period, which is a totally adverse tendency compared to the EU objectives, e.g. to reduce the spatial inequalities. The most developed central region has improved a lot more than the others and at the same time the peripheral regions were not able even to catch up with the average performance. The aim of the paper is to analyze the regions which are in an extremely difficult situation compared to their counterparts, since the least developed areas of the country belong to these regions. There are four regions out of seven in this category. Based on the complex indicators in the classification of the governmental decision, there are 33 microregions of Hungary which need special development concepts to keep the population in the rural areas, to produce economic growth, to increase the employment etc. The regions which contain these underdeveloped areas cannot be considered homogenous; therefore it is very difficult to define general development objectives for such territories. Thus, individual and endogenous development concepts have to be elaborated to enable them to survive and increase their competitiveness. In the paper we intend to examine the economic and social tendencies of the regions mentioned above with statistical methods, using the data available after 2004 and try to define potential paths to break out and develop.