Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
Unit E4: Regional statistics and geographical information
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The source for regional typology statistics are regional indicators at NUTS level 3 or LAU2 level published on the Eurostat website or existing in the Eurostat production database.
The structure of this domain is as follows:
- Metropolitan regions (met)
For details see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/metropolitan-regions/background
- Other typologies (urt) includes data by urban-rural typology including remoteness, coastal typology, border typology, island typology and mountain typology
For details see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/regions-and-cities
- Tourism statistics by coastal areas (mare)
For details see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/coastal-island-outermost-regions/methodology
The regional breakdown of the countries into the NUTS3 regions is based on:
1. Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS).
The annexes to this Regulation that contain the regional breakdowns of the Member States are usually updated every three years. The version currently in force is NUTS 2021, applicable for data transmission from the Member States to Eurostat since 1 January 2021. Latest consolidated version of the NUTS Regulation: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:02003R1059-20180118&qid=1519136753473
The NUTS Regulation also gives the legal basis for statistical grids and the following territorial typologies:
- grid based (urban centres, urban clusters and rural grid cells);
- LAU based (degree of urbanisation: cities, towns and suburbs and rural areas; functional urban areas: cities plus their commuting zones; coastal areas);
- NUTS3 based (urban-rural typology: predominantly urban regions, intermediate regions and predominantly rural regions; metropolitan typology and coastal typology).
2. Agreements between Eurostat and Acceding and Candidate Countries as well as between Eurostat and EFTA countries, for which statistical regions have been coded in a way that resembles NUTS.
For more details, please consult the https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background.
The indicators and variables published by regional typologies cover several statistical domains: Area, Demography, Population projections, Labour market, Economic accounts, Science and technology statistics, Tourism (from 2012 onwards; by coastal area only), Business demography, Transport and Crimes.
General information about the data
The data providers are the Eurostat units responsible for area, demography, population projections, economic accounts, labour market, tourism (from 2012 LAU aggregates by coastal/non-coastal area), science and technology statistics, business demography, transport and crimes providing the NUTS 3 data as 'building blocks' for the aggregates.
The data tables are updated automatically whenever one of these building blocks is being updated in the Eurostat reference database. For the information on the building blocks-data: please consult the information provided for the indicators in the relevant statistical themes. The typologies have been updated in 2021 implementing the NUTS 2021 version.
A) Metropolitan typology (included in the NUTS Regulation)
The metropolitan typology is applied to the NUTS3 regions: it identifies metropolitan regions in the European Union (EU). These regions are defined as urban agglomerations (NUTS level 3 regions or groups of NUTS level 3 regions) where at least 50 % of the population lives inside a functional urban area (FUA) that is composed of at least 250 000 inhabitants.
Source data ('building blocks') for the metropolitan data are existing NUTS3 indicators in the Eurostat production database for the following statistical themes:
- Area,
- Demography,
- Population projections,
- Economic accounts,
- Labour market,
- Science and technology statistics,
- Business demography,
- Transport,
- Crimes.
More information on the definition of Metropolitan regions: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Territorial_typologies_manual_-_metropolitan_regions
B) Other typologies (included in the NUTS Regulation)
B.1) Urban-rural typology
The urban-rural typology is applied to the NUTS3 regions: it identifies three types of region based on the share of the rural population, namely, predominantly rural regions, intermediate regions and predominantly urban regions.
Predominantly urban regions: NUTS level 3 regions where more than 80 % of the population live in urban clusters.
Intermediate regions: NUTS level 3 regions where more than 50 % and up to 80 % of the population live in urban clusters.
Predominantly rural regions: NUTS level 3 regions where at least 50% of the population live in rural grid cells.
More information on the Urban/rural typology:
B.2) Coastal typology
The coastal typology is applied to the NUTS3 regions: it identifies coastal regions in the European Union (EU) as having a border with a coastline, having more than half their population within 50 km of the coastline, or having a strong maritime influence.
More information on the definition of Coastal regions:
Source data ('building blocks') for the urban-rural typology and coastal typology are existing NUTS3 indicators in the Eurostat production database for the following statistical themes:
- Area,
- Demography,
- Population projections,
- Economic accounts,
- Labour market,
- Science and technology statistics,
- Business demography,
- Transport,
- Crimes.
C) Other typologies (not included in the NUTS Regulation)
These are island, mountain and border typology. For the detailed definitions please consult the 2018 edition of the Methodological manual on territorial typologies.
Source data ('building blocks') for the island, mountain and border typology are existing NUTS3 indicators in the Eurostat production database for the following statistical themes:
- Area,
- Demography,
- Population projections,
- Economic accounts,
- Labour market,
- Science and technology statistics,
- Business demography,
- Transport,
- Crimes.
D) Coastal areas (included in the NUTS Regulation)
Coastal areas are local administrative units (LAUs) that are bordering or close to a coastline. A coastline is defined as the line where land and water surfaces meet (border each other). Due to the existence of several measures (eg, the mean or median tides, high- or low-tides), the European Commission has adopted the harmonised use of the mean high tide (EC, 1999) in order to delineate EU coastlines.
More information on Coastal areas:
Statistical unit is a NUTS 3 region, a local administrative unit (LAU) and aggregates of them.
Regional typology statistics combine data from many source statistics. The concept of statistical population is not strictly applicable in a regional typology context.
EU Member States, EFTA countries, the United Kingdom and Candidate countries.
Area time series is available from 2013 onwards.
Demography time series are available from 1990 onwards.
Population projections time series are available from 2019 to 2100.
Economic accounts time series are available from 1995 onwards.
Labour market time series are available from 1999 onwards.
Tourism time series are available from 2012 onwards (based on coastal/non-coastal areas).
Patent (Science and technology statistics) time series are available from 1977 onwards.
Business demography time series are available from 2008 onwards.
Transport statistics time series are available from 2008 onwards.
Crime statistics time series are available from 2008 onwards (for three years only).
Not applicable
The unit of measurement varies from indicator to indicator; from variable to variable. In most cases the unit of measurement is included in the label.
For unit of measure, please consult metadata for each statistical theme individually:
Area, Demography, Population projections, Regional economic accounts, Regional labour market, Tourism, Science and technology statistics, Regional business demography, Transport and Crime statistics.
The reference period is the calendar year.
This particular metadata file refers to the metropolitan typology, urban-rural typology, coastal typology and typology of coastal areas.
The corresponding folder in the database contains also data aggregated by other typologies which are not included in the NUTS Regulation but are of policy and research interest. These are data by island/non-island regions, data by mountain/non-mountain regions and data by border/non-border regions, as well as urban-rural typology including remoteness.
Not applicable.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
Not applicable.
No release calendar.
Not applicable.
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in objective, professional and transparent manner, in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Annual and whenever revised data are sent to Eurostat.
Not applicable.
Statistics Explained
Statistics Explained is an official Eurostat website presenting many statistical topics in an easily understandable way. Together, the articles make up an encyclopaedia of European statistics, completed by a statistical glossary clarifying all terms used and by numerous links to further information and the very latest data and metadata, a portal for occasional and regular users alike.
The pages, which provide a clickable list of all articles in Statistics Explained on typology statistics, can be accessed under the following links:
Regional Yearbook (annual publication, current edition),
Methodological manual of territorial typologies.
Please consult free data on-line.
Not applicable.
The on-line visualisation tool 'Regions and Cities Illustrated' enables the users to visualise in several different way selected indicators on all typologies available in the on-line database.
For a detailed description of methods and concepts used, as well as for other documents related to regional typologies, please consult the Methodological manual of territorial typologies (in Statistics explained) and related to the NUTS classification, please consult the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) webpage.
Not available.
The quality of the data is assured by the implementation of the harmonised European definitions for the regional typologies as included in the NUTS Regulation. In 2017, a review of the quality of the data by regional typologies has been done.
No assessment has been made.
Regional typologies are receiving particular attention by policy makers due to policy developments in relation to EU Cohesion Policy, the Treaty of Lisbon and the description of the European aim of territorial cohesion. This counts in particular for the types of territories mentioned in ยง 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU: rural areas; island, cross-border and other regions.
EU cohesion policy aims to reduce disparities among EU regions and to promote growth, employment and sustainable development in disadvantaged regions and areas.
Over the past few years, there has been a greater focus on evidence-based policy interventions and more integrated territorial approaches that reflect the diversity of EU regions, e.g. in terms of employment, demography, poverty, education or economic activity. Analyses of regional policies emphasise the need to investigate the significant urban-rural differences, which are not uniform across Member States (see, for example, the Reports on economic, social and territorial Cohesion).
Cohesion policy emphasises territorial development strategies focusing on urban and rural, but also coastal development, stressing the relevance of promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and thereby reflecting the role of cities, urban, rural and coastal areas. Urban-rural linkages are taken into account as well.
Particularly disadvantaged regions like cross border ones are specifically targeted, for instance by the Interreg programmes.
Eurostat does not carry out satisfaction survey targeted at users of regional statistics by typology. The relevance of the regional typology statistics for the users can thus only be assessed by indirect means.
Data completeness depends on the availability of the source data in each thematic domain.
High.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Timeliness for area, demography, population projections, economic accounts, tourism, science and technology statistics, business demography, transport and crime statistics aggregates: immediate.
Every update of a source table at regional level (which is done by a production unit for each thematic domain) is followed by production of territorial aggregates.
Timeliness for labour market aggregates: 3 months after receiving source data at NUTS 3 level from NSIs.
High.
Data dissemination depends on the punctuality of data delivery and the completeness of the datasets provided by the countries.
The geographical comparability is ensured through the application of common European definitions and methodologies for classification of all NUTS level 3 regions according to the regional typologies as well as the coastal and non-coastal areas.
Comparability over time could be affected every three years by the new version of the NUTS classification, as well as by updates in the territorial typologies.
The version currently in force is the NUTS 2021, applicable for data transmission from the Member States to Eurostat since 1 January 2021. The typologies were updated last time in 2021 implementing the NUTS 2021 version.
Note:
There are several metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions, for which data are not comparable over time in case the typology aggregation was based on the different NUTS versions in two consecutive years. A flag b 'break in series' is attributed to the metropolitan figures in these cases.
This is the list of all 13 metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions, which are flagged with b 'break in series', if the typology aggregation in two consecutive years was based on the different NUTS versions (NUTS2021 and NUTS 2016):
BE001MC, BE004M, BE005, IT027M, NO001MC, NO002M, UK539M, BE_NM, CH_NM, FR_NM, IT_NM, NO_NM, UK_NM.
The name and the code of these regions remained unchanged after the NUTS change but the geographical area of the regions is different in each NUTS version. It means that the correspondence between the metropolitan region and the NUTS3 regions is different in each version.
The coherence cross domains is ensured since the tables by regional typologies contain aggregates of the NUTS 3 datasets published by the production units.
Internal coherence (between time, age and sex) is ensured through various validations performed by the thematic production units before publishing the data.
Not available.
Data are revised in accordance with changes of the NUTS classification or according to data revisions or methodological changes implemented by the National Statistical institutes or other bodies.
Please consult metadata for each statistical theme individually.
The source data for regional typology statistics are regional indicators at NUTS level 3 published on the Eurostat website or existing in the Eurostat production database for the following statistical themes:
- Area,
- Demography,
- Population projections,
- Economic accounts,
- Labour market,
- Science and technology statistics,
- Business demography,
- Transport and
- Crime statistics.
Tourism data aggregated by coastal/non-coastal areas are based on the common definitions.
Annual.
NUTS3 data needed for production of regional aggregates are provided by the Eurostat units responsible for area, demography, populations projections, economic accounts, labour market, science and technology statistics, business demography, transport and crime statistics.
Tourism statistics by coastal areas is provided by the National Statistical Institutes already aggregated.
For more details, please consult the information provided for the indicators in the relevant statistical themes.
Although the data validation is considered being done by the production units during the creation phase, some additional verification of the validity of the data is done during the aggregation process. For example, the aggregate of the predominantly urban, intermediate and predominantly rural figures must be less than (in case of missing data) or equal to the national figure on a given variable. Analogically, the aggregate of coastal and non-coastal figures must be less than or equal to the national figure. A similar rule applies for the metropolitan regions: the sum of all metropolitan figures must be less then the national figure.
Regional typology tables are produced in Eurostat production database by aggregating the NUTS3 source data that are publicly available in Eurostat reference database. Different correspondence tables are used to classify each NUTS3 region by a regional typology, such as: metropolitan region or part of Non-metropolitan regions in the country, Predominantly rural, Intermediate or Predominantly urban region, Coastal or Non-coastal region, Mountain or Non-mountain region, Border or Non-border region, Island or Non-island region. The formulas that are used to calculate the aggregates by territorial typologies are also stored in Eurostat production database.
Similarly, a correspondence table exists for the tourism aggregates based on coastal/non-coastal areas.
The tables with the NUTS3 source data are produced and disseminated by individual Eurostat production units responsible for each thematic domain: Area, Demography, Population projections, Regional economic accounts, Labour market, Tourism, Science and technology statistics, Business demography, Transport and Crime statistics. When a production unit updates any of the source data tables in the Eurostat reference database, the tables by territorial typologies are also updated.
Specific case: Tables Area of the regions by metropolitan regions (met_d3area) and Area of the regions by other typologies (urt_d3area)
Until 2022, these two tables combined two different source data tables and three different NUTS versions of typology classification:
To show regional aggregates by area of regions for consecutive years until 2021 the table Area by NUTS3 region (reg_area3) was changed to an annual dataset by shifting the years to keep the consistency with the implementing date of the corresponding NUTS version (i.e. reference year 2013 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018) as as follows:
| Current year in the table: |
Shift to years: |
Corresponding NUTS version: |
| 2013 | 2013=2014=2015=2016=201 | NUTS 2013 |
| 2016 | 2018=2019=2020 | NUTS 2016 |
| 2021 | 2021 | NUTS 2021 |
The modified datasets Area of the regions by metropolitan regions (met_d3area) and Area of the regions by other typologies (urt_d3area) are available in Eurostat database since October 2022.
The above-mentioned changes are also reflected in the tables Population density by metropolitan regions (met_d3dens) and Population density by other typologies (urt_d3dens). For more information, see the metadata file on Area by NUTS 3 region.
Note:
Population density by metropolitan regions (met_d3dens) is calculated as population from table Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and metropolitan regions (met_pjanaggr3) divided by land area from table Area of the regions by metropolitan regions (met_d3area), i.e. denstity data refers to the 1st January of a reference year.
Similarly, Population density by other typologies (urt_d3dens) is calculated as population from table Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and other typologies (urt_pjanaggr3) divided by land area from table Area of the regions by other typologies (urt_d3area).
If land area is not available then Total area is used for calculation.
Regional data by typologies are not adjusted.
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