Socio-economic differences have existed in Latvia both during the first state-independence and they continue to exist also nowadays. The accents and main directions of economic activities have changed, but the basic geographical advantages have been and remain unchanged. In the so-far adopted laws and regulations in Latvia the increase of competitiveness has been emphasised as the mean for the achievement of the main aim, however its definition has not been given. The main objectives are related to the necessity of sustainable and balanced development in the Latvian regions. However, at developing the regional policy and granting procedure for support tools in Latvia, the factors hindering or facilitating the regional development should be taken into account. Particular attention should be given to those factors that hinder the regional development, seriously evaluating their importance and making decisions on further initiatives for the mitigation of their impact. By analysing the existing studies on notion of competition, fight of competition and competitiveness, authors concludes that the notion of competition on all levels is one and the same – competition is a race. On each level there will be only different object of competitiveness. On the enterprise or field level there is a fight to get the manufactured goods or services bought that would ensure the company’s survival in a competitive environment. On a regional or state level the fight is about investments and workforce to ensure a higher level of welfare. Despite the different competitiveness levels of the planning regions each of them has their own competitiveness facilitating factors (strengths), competitiveness hindering factors (weaknesses), potential competitiveness hindering factors (threats) and potential competitiveness facilitating factors (possibilities). Riga planning region has most competitiveness facilitating factors, but Latgale planning region has the least. The regional competitiveness cannot be characterised by such indicators as GDP or GDP per capita, as there are essential differences between the dynamics of these indicators and obtained results from the calculations of the Regional Competitiveness Index. The regional competitiveness is influenced and defined by a wide range of interrelated factors that do not always reflect exactly in the amounts of the gross domestic product.