1. European Regional Statistics
Gunter Schäfer
Eurostat Unit E4 - Regional statistics and geographical information

2. Eurostat’s tasks in the domain of regional and urban information
Regular collection of regional and urban data from National Statistical Offices
Estimation of missing data (if possible)
Assure the comparability of the data
Development of appropriate methodology of data collection and compilation
Consultancy of major users (DG REGIO)

3. Purpose of regional data
Quantitative information = basis for objective and unbiased cohesion policy
Definition, implementation and monitoring of EU regional policies ( : 347 billion euros)
Commission (DG REGIO) is main user
Selection of eligible regions
Ex-post evaluation
Regions are increasingly in focus of general public

4. Example Italy of regional aid
Allocated funds : Total: €28.8 billion
Convergence: €21.6 billion
Regional Competitiveness and Employment: €6.3 billion
European Territorial Cooperation: €846 million
Focus of programmes
Developing knowledge networks;
Increasing living standards;
Security and social inclusion;
Fostering business clusters, services and competition;
Internationalising and modernising the economy
Targets
Contribute to average annual GDP growth of between 2.4 and 3.1% in the ‘Convergence’ regions
Increase employment from roughly 45% to 50% in these regions

5. NUTS regions in Italy

6. Available regional Statistics
Domain
Content
NUTS
Level
Legal Base
Economic
accounts
Gross Value Added and GDP
Growth of real GDP
Compensation of employees
Employment
Gross Fixed Capital Formation
Household accounts
NUTS 2 or
NUTS 3
European System of
National Accounts
Regulation
Demography
Population and area
Population change
Population projections
Regional level census 2001 round
Regulation for
census every 10
years,
gentleman's
agreement
Labour
Market
Economically active population
Employment and unemployment
Socio-demographic labour force statistics
Labour market disparities
Yes
Labour Cost
Labour cost surveys (1996, 2000, 2004)
NUTS 1

7. Domain Content NUTS Level Legal Base
Migration
Internal migration: arrivals, departures by sex, origin and destination
NUTS 2
Gentleman's agreement
Health
Causes of death
Health care infrastructure, Health status,
Hospital patients
Gentleman's agreement, legal basis in preparation
Education
Number of students by sex, age, education level, orientation,
Educational attainment, lifelong learning
Yes
Structural Business
SBS yearly and multi yearly data
Credit institutions
NUTS 1 or NUTS 2r
Tourism
Tourist accommodation, arrivals, nights spent
NUTS 2 or NUTS 3
Information Society
Internet access
Computer usage
NUTS 1 or NUTS 2
Yes (mandatory for NUTS 1)
Agriculture
Land use/cover
Farm Structure Surveys
Animal and crop production
Economic accounts for agriculture
Agri-environmental indicators
Regulations, gentleman's agreement

8. Domain Content NUTS Level Legal Base
Maritime Policy
Spatial data and indicators relevant to the coast and the sea
NUTS 2 or NUTS 3
EU's Integrated Maritime Policy
Transport
Road, rail, maritime, inland waterways and air transport
Transport infrastructure, stock of vehicles and road accidents
NUTS 2 or NUTS 3
Yes
Environment
Water resources
Wastewater treatment
Solid waste
NUTS 1 or NUTS 2
yes for waste statistics
Science and Technology
R&D expenditure and staff
Human resources in science and technology
Employment in high technology sectors
European patent applications to EPO

9. In addition: Urban Statistics
Since about 1990 the Urban Audit pilot project collected a wide range of statistical variables for about 350 cities
Different concepts (Core City, Larger Urban Zone, Sub-city Districts)
Many issues of data availability, organisation in Member States, types of use of the data
Urban Audit was perhaps too ambitious
Currently initiative is ongoing to redefine Urban Statistics in a simplified but also more homogenous way (e.g. definition of city)

10. Urban Statistics: Example Italy

11. Challenges for Regional (and Urban) Statistics
Tight resource situation in European Statistical System
Additional indicators are requested by policy makers (e.g. government finance, enterprise demography, innovation activities)
Increasing focus of functional areas (rural-urban, mountain, coastal areas, etc.)
Exploring ways of efficiency gains and better exploiting existing information:
Flexible use of geocoded data from surveys, e.g. for functional regions
Small area estimations
Spatial analysis to combine geographic and statistical data

12. New Urban Rural Typology
Agreed with OECD
Avoids problems of previous method based on NUTS 3
Units: 1 km² grid cells
Population grid: registered population when available, otherwise disaggregation grid (JRC)
Identify population living in urban areas:
Selection of grid cells with density > 300 inh./km²
Only groups of grid cells, representing a total population of > 5000 inhabitants
Contiguity is evaluated including diagonals

13. Rural- Urban Typology applied to NUTS 3

14. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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Questions ??