Legal impediments to effective rural land relations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: a comparative perspective

"Excessive concentration of land ownership, as is feared by many transition governments, has not been a feature of land markets where they have been allowed to function relatively freely and where land has been allocated in kind to households and individuals." The World Bank has long been active in the Europe and Central Asia region in monitoring and evaluating land reform developments and supporting the development of land markets. Bank efforts to date have made a significant impact in our client countries, and studies produced by the Bank have been used as impartial references on this subject by both international organizations and the countries themselves. This report was developed as a result of these efforts. It focuses on: • The principal issues faced by the transition economies of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union • The potential approaches for resolving specific problem issues.