Regional GDP Figures Some Considerations Following the June EU Council

EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROSTAT

Directorate E: Sectoral and Regional Statistics Unit E-4: Regional indicators and geographical information

Working Group on Regional and Urban Statistics

Meeting of 8-9 October 2009 in Luxembourg,

BECH building, AMPERE room

Document E4/REG/2009/06

New developments in National Statistical Offices on Regional and Urban Statistics New developments concerning regional and urban statistics

New developments in National Statistical Offices

concerning regional and urban statistics

Belgium

For Belgium, at regional level, there has not been much change.

Work for the micro census is right on track.

Concerning the Urban Audit project, efforts will cover the improvement of quality of the data and if possible the respect of deadlines. Internally, the estimates on labour market statistics could be improved and resulted in some corrections covering the past years.

The spatial unit for Liege will be kept.

Our estimates for certain variables cover the population census of 2001. But the future 2011 census will be based more on administrative files than on surveys. This might imply that certain variables can no longer be supplied.

Bulgaria

General

In 2008 there was a routine revision of the Law on Statistics but it brought an organisational change: a third Deputy-President was introduced. That reflected in an organisational restructuring which lead to 10 directorates, half of which are purely statistical. The division “Regional Statistics” was not affected but the division “Input-Output Tables”, which is producing regional accounts, was aggregated in “Non-financial Accounts”.

Regional

1. Twinning

In September 2009 the twinning project with DESTATIS and INSEE “Sustainable development of the national statistical system – Reorganisation of NSI regional structure” was officially finished. As the title of the project shows the most important component in it should be the reorganization of the regional structure of the NSI. In fact, in the implementation of the project it was decided by the top management not to undertake restructuring of the regional offices and the accent was put on the regional dissemination and improvement of the regional indicators. The twinning on this component was done with INSEE and we appreciate the fruitful atmosphere and discussions on these topics with the French colleagues, especially Mr Patrick Redor.

2 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics

2. Regional accounts

Table 10 and 12 from the Transmission Programme were produced and sent in due time. In August 2009 revised data for the period 1995-2004 for the total employment (persons) and employees (persons) were sent to Eurostat. After years of methodological difficulties finally a National methodology was defined and the table 13 “Households Accounts by Region (NUTS 2)” for the years 2000-2001 and 2004-2006 will be sent before the current meeting.

The National Accounts for the Energy Consumption are produced in the division “Statistics of the Environment and Energy” after the merge of the two divisions. The colleagues appreciate very much the idea for their regionalization but so far no regional data are produced.

3. Urban Audit

The deadline for the phase IV of the Urban Audit for the Bulgarian cities was the end of 2008. Part of the data were sent in January 2009 and expanded by April 2009.

The NSI of Bulgaria has sent a proposal for the next phase and aims to participate in it.

Czech Republic –2009

The President of the Czech Statistical Office Jan Fischer became prime minister of the caretaker government in April 2009, in the middle of the Czech presidency of the EU. The reason of the quick promotion was the fall of the right-wing government, orchestrated by social democrats during a long-term political stalemate in the country. The term of early election in October 2009 and legislation of the change was disputed by the Constitutional Court in September. The delay of election would affect among others the CzSO, as it is the main processor of all national elections.

In September 2009, the 2nd International Statistical Conference was organised by the CzSO, Czech National Bank and University of Economics in Prague. Among 22 sections, the Regional statistics was one of the most contributed and visited.

The Population census 2011 has been prepared intensively, legislation and funding was secured. The pilot census has been postponed for 2010. Several external companies will participate on data collection, ICT solution and project management.

New ways of data visualisation are successfully tested on the NSI’s web site, e.g. MotionCharts with demographic indicators that are selected on-line on regional and local levels from the public database.

Several EU funded projects were started. The project called StatGIS should implement GIS and Internet tools better into the praxis of the CzSO, including dissemination and analysis of the Census 2011 data. One module is focused on statistics of social and technical infrastructures on the municipal level.

Denmark

From 1 October 2008, the task of preparing election results and compiling statistics on elections to the Danish Parliament, elections to the European Parliament and referendums, was transferred from the Danish Ministry

3 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics of Social Welfare to Statistics Denmark. In 2009 the task involved the compilation of statistics on elections to the European Parliament and the referendum on the Danish Act of Succession.

With effect from 2008, Statistics Denmark is responsible for collecting, validating and disseminating new information in order to improve the monitoring of activities with regard to the area of elderly people. A system for receiving and processing detailed data on home help, etc. is now in operation. In 2009, it is expected that indicators in the area of elderly people, which are based on the new system, will be published for the first time.

From 1 January 2008, the responsibility of compiling research, development and innovation statistics was transferred from the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy at the University of Århus. In connection with the transfer to Statistics Denmark, it was made statutory to report data on research, development and innovation as from the collection year 2007.

At the same time, Statistics Denmark also assumed the responsibility for the statistics on the public research budget from the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy. The research budget is prepared on the basis of material supplied by the Ministry of Finance and supplemented by information collected by Statistics Denmark. The 2008 research budget was published in November 2008.

In connection with the agreements on Danish municipalities in 2006, fact-finding work was initiated for the purpose of improving the primary data in the area of welfare. It has been decided that this work is to be embedded with Statistics Denmark. In 2008, a new reporting system in the area of elderly people came into operation. The system comprises, e.g. detailed personal information on home help. Indicators in the area of elderly people, which are based on the new primary data, will not be published until the spring of 2009. Furthermore, Statistics Denmark participated in the preparation of the coming documentation projects, which relate to disadvantaged children, disabled persons and the area relating to offers of day care services.

At the end of 2008, Statistics Denmark gained access to data from the eIncome register, and these data will imply that there will be considerably better primary data in the future for compiling statistics on employment and income. In 2009, Statistics Denmark will on the basis of data from the administrative eIncome register establish a central eIncome statistical register. This register is to form the basis for a number of new statistics. In establishing the central eIncome statistical register, important data will be processed centrally. This is carried out to ensure that the most important concepts are compiled in a uniform way in the various statistics.

Data from the eIncome register opens up e.g. the possibility of compiling new statistics on employment for monitoring short-term trends. At the end of 2009, statistics monitoring the number of jobs, employment volume and total wage and salary costs will be compiled for the quarters of 2008 and for the first quarters of 2009. The statistics on the number of jobs are compiled for the very first time and are consequently completely new statistics.

Germany

Census 2011

The 2011 census in Germany will for the first time take a mixed-mode approach rather than that of an exhaustive survey. This means that, in Germany, the data to be relied on for the next Europe-wide census planned for 2011 will largely be administrative records already in existence. The German census 2011 or population census will be mainly register-based, and the entire population will no longer be questioned by interviewers as it was in the past. The census variables to be recorded, such as population numbers, labour-

4 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics market participation and households, will be obtained as far as possible from existing registers. Only data on variables for which there are no other data sources and data for correcting "undercoverage" and "overcoverage" in population registers will still be collected or adjusted using primary statistics from sample surveys. The census will thus consist of several modules: register analyses, a postal survey of home-owners, and complementary sample surveys. The concepts, methods and procedures to be applied in the census 2011 have been laid down in the 2011 Census Act, which entered into force in July 2009.

In accordance with the legal provisions, the size of the household sample must not exceed 10% of the population. In line with EU provisions, the sample variables relating to education and employment, and cross combinations of demographic and sample variables are determined down to the level of administrative regions. Further options and framework conditions for providing more detailed results are presently still under discussion.

The German concept of a register based census 2011 with additional sample surveys has led to objections by institutions responsible for regional and urban planning, research and statistics. They point out that contrary to all previous censuses this coming census will not provide for sufficiently small territorial units (neighbourhoods) the necessary information on the socio-economic characteristics of persons and households, like household structure, educational attainment, the dominant source of income, occupational status and job characteristics, which is needed for targeted policies of integration, qualification and social cohesion. As professional and political discussions have not come to an end, the German census law has not yet been passed.

Regional atlas Since May 2009, the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder have provided a new regional atlas on the web page http://ims.destatis.de/indikatoren. The regional atlas presents more than 80 indicators relating to a multitude of topics of official statistics for all rural districts and towns not attached to an administrative district in Germany (NUTS 3 regions) in the form of thematic maps. Each map offers the user a wide range of interactive options for information visualisation and retrieval. The atlas mostly draws upon data which can also be found in the regional database on Germany (GENESIS-Online) maintained by the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder at https://www.regionalstatistik.de/genesis/online/logon. The new regional atlas replaces the online-atlas of regional statistics and, owing to the map server technology, as it is called, it can be used without a browser plug-in having to be installed first.

Urban Audit

The new Urban Audit collection round (UA IV) in Germany is managed again by KOSIS, the association of the German cities involved in this project. They have now increased their working capacity by a person employed especially for these tasks. The cities involved decided to improve coverage and consistency by an annual collection of the exhaustive list of variables, including data on sub-city districts. The Federal and the State Statistical Offices will provide more detailed data from the Micro-census which can be used as input for improved estimates. Data collection from the cities is now facilitated by a technical tool for internet transmission with quality checks and immediate corrections.

GV-ISys

On its new web page, the Federal Statistical Office provides data free of charge for all regional levels of Germany. Included is information on the settlement structure and other non-administrative and administrative territorial units at NUTS 3 and LAU 2 levels. In January 2011, that web page will be supplemented by an extended online search function for the information system of the list of municipalities. http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Regionales/Gemeind everzeichnis/Gemeindeverzeichnis,templateId=renderPrint.psml

Estonia

The number of population published by Statistics Estonia is based on the 2000 Population and Housing Census data and is complemented by the annual data on registered births and deaths. Since 2000 Statistics Estonia has not used immigration and emigration in the estimation of the population because 2000 Population Census showed that the quality of migration data is low. It was mainly caused by the voluntary registration of the place of residence from the beginning of the 1990s up to 2005. Since 2006 the quality of migration data has improved. Therefore, Statistics Estonia published the population number as of 1 January with migration for the years 2000–2008.

Statistics Estonia will organise the pilot census of the 2011 Population and Housing Census in nine local governments of Estonia in autumn 2009. About 10 000 persons and their dwellings will be enumerated during the census. In the course of the pilot census the methodology and software worked out for the main census will be tested. The pilot census as well as the main census will last six weeks — first two weeks are for e-census and face-to-face interviews will be conducted during the three last weeks.

The Regional Statistics Council was formed for a better and user-friendlier arrangement of the production of regional statistics and for more effective use of the limited resources allocated for the production of regional statistics. Besides the representative of Statistics Estonia, the Council is composed of the representatives from ministries, Association of Estonian Cities and enterprises. The tasks of the Council include: regular work on the list of official statistical surveys, presentation of grounded suggestions for improvement of the list, support to the introduction of administrative databases into the production of statistics in co-operation with the administrators of sources, co-operation in analysing regional developments, conducting surveys, training users and promoting the integrated use of regional statistics and other spatial data.

Since March customers have an opportunity to explore the Estonian population statistics on the Internet based on the mapping application Google Earth. The number of population, proportion of children, working-age and elderly people on city or rural municipality level, as well as the relation of dependant people to working- age persons can be viewed. The data are presented as of 1 January 2008. The plan is to wide the list of population indicators during the year and to add thematic maps about Estonia to Google Earth.

Statistics Estonia took part from the study “Approach towards an Integrated Maritime Policy Database”. A key element of the Integrated Maritime Policy, developed by the European Commission, was the requirement to develop a database on socio-economic data for the maritime sectors and coastal regions. Variables in the database are based on the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) Regulation. As a result of the complex evaluation of the database(s) of Eurostat, the template with existing data was sent to complement the data gaps. Statistics Estonia was able to fill some of the gaps. Unfortunately Estonian SBS data by more detailed NUTS levels (NUTS3, LAU1) are available only on enterprises with 20 or more persons employed

6 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics and without the breakdown by activities mainly due to confidentiality reasons. Using the information from template tables sent by Statistics Estonia a Maritime Statistics Portfolio of Estonia was created by consultant of the project.

In the last Working Group meeting were discussed about launching the project called TASK (Territorial Analysis through Statistics and Knowledge). The main aim of TASK is to produce data on different statistical domains which is reliable for aggregated groupings of NUTS3 regions. The working group on labour market statistics (LAMAS) in its meeting in June invited LAMAS members voluntary include information on NUTS3 regions in regular LFS data transmission from 2009Q1 onwards. Statistics Estonia transmitted to Eurostat LFS 2009Q1 data already supplemented with NUTS3 codes.

Statistics Estonia sent to Eurostat the grant application form for the project "Urban Audit 2009–2010".

Ireleand

Urban Audit

For the next Urban Audit data collection in 2009-2010, the CSO has agreed to supply annual data in respect of the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 before the end of 2009. This will consist of the 40 variables that have been highlighted for annual UA collection.

However, in the absence of a full census it will not be possible to supply data for the exhaustive list of 337 variables in respect of the year 2008 until the results from Census 2011 become available. We would propose doing this by interpolating between the results of Censuses 2006 and 2011 for some of the data items requested. Pending this we will continue to supply data for the annual UA variables for the year 2008.

Small Areas

The CSO has been in collaboration with a number of academic and State bodies in defining ‘Small Areas’ for reporting census data in Ireland. These areas will consist of between 75-125 households which will nest into the existing LAU-2 unit (the ‘Electoral Division’ or ED). The creation and verification of these areas has been completed and are currently being prepared for public release. The CSO has committed itself to the collection and dissemination of data at Small Area level for the 2011 census.

Census pilot survey

The decision to have a census in 2011 has been approved by the Government. In preparation for this, the CSO conducted a census pilot survey in selected areas in April 2009. The primary objectives of the pilot were:

• To assess the use of Small Areas for the designation of Enumeration Areas (EAs) and in the field operations.

• To examine the potential of the national address database (the Geodirectory) in providing completely flexible geographical outputs.

• To analyse the role of GIS in providing assistance to EA designation and the labelling and printing of EA maps.

The concept of using Small Areas as ‘building blocks’ for the EAs was successful.

It is envisaged that the introduction of the Small Area will also prove advantageous in relation to the publication of the preliminary results and post-census processing operations.

Using GIS to perform the designation also proved successful and will provide savings in time and resources compared to the manually intensive logistics associated with the use of physical maps.

The pilot proved useful in identifying issues connected with the Geodirectory. However none of these issues will prevent the Geodirectory from being accommodated into the planning of Census 2011 operations.

Greece

The National Statistical Service of Greece (NSSG) has launched a new internet portal since August 2009. It is designed to contain statistical data on several domains, from national to NUTS 3 level, based on confidentiality, the metadata of the surveys, the variables and the classifications used, thematic maps and also publications. New links and services have been added and it has several possibilities such as the following:

. A new on-line system of electronic orders of statistical data and publications is available to users.

. The RSS service. In other words, all users can, automatically, receive free of charge, updates whenever new material is published or altered in the NSSG portal. An e-mail notification is also offered only to authenticated users and requires portal registration.

. A new redesigned and unified Business Register will be constructed with a mechanism for the electronic data collection from the enterprises and vice versa. The e-questionnaires will be available on-line to enlisted users to be completed and forwarded electronically.

. Data on households and population will be collected through telephone surveys.

This database contains data on national and regional level and it is available in Greek and English. It is updated on a regular basis with new Press Releases, latest news or pre-defined tables. However, the English version of our website is not exactly equal to the Greek version, but serious efforts are made to translate the remaining tables in English (approximately 10%).

The NSSG has also developed a series of projects in order to cope with the increased user needs in Greece and abroad.

 All Media Communications and the NSSG, along with other sources, have developed a website, available in Greek and English, to users that are interested in the most important economic aspects and leading indicators of our country. Data are available to users by subscription. See http://www.economics.gr/AllMedia/%5Fgr/

This application is divided into four categories: 1. The Economic Barometer (developments in the economy’s main indices) 2. The Greek Economy in Figures 3. The Greek Regions (years available 1960-2007 up to NUTS III level) 4. Banks

A publication called “NOMOI” (Departments) is also published, on an annual basis, with the most important indices and statistical data at NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 level, from this regional database.

 Finally, the NSSG and the National Centre for Social Surveys have developed a project called “The Panorama of the Population Censuses’ data 1991-2001”. This is only available in Greek and can be installed on PCs (it is not a web application). The Panorama avails of all the variables used in the censuses, as well as the socio-demographic indices and levels of geographic analysis (up to LAU 2) projected also on a GIS application. Users can create their own tables, in excel format, by selecting variables/criteria on population, households in the greatest permitted analysis. Users can create tables with comparable data from the latest two censuses.

PUBLICATIONS

The NSSG designs, collects and processes data from a variety of studies, censuses, statistical surveys and presents them in statistical publications, which are divided in general and special publications under the following link: http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/PAGE-catalog

The general publications (in Greek and English) are the following:

1. The “Monthly Statistical Bulletin” (August 2009, latest in circulation)

2. The “Statistical Yearbook of Greece” (2007, latest in circulation), which is in fact a Regional Yearbook, as it contains data on almost all thematic themes on the sectors of economic and social activity, on national level, as well as, on NUTS level 1 to 3).

3. The “Concise Yearbook of Greece” (2008, latest in circulation), which is a “mini-pocket” version of the “Statistical Yearbook of Greece”. includes regional data up to NUTS3 level.

“Greece in numbers, 2009”

It is available in Greek / English and it covers the most important economic aspects on national level, at the following link: http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/General/ELLAS_IN_NUMBERS_EN.pdf

Since 2006, data on Population Census 2001, as well as, on the Building Census 2000, can be downloaded, free of charge, from our website www.statistics.gr. These tables cover all the core topics, up to LAU 2, according to the UNECE/EUROSTAT recommendations and are available, for the time being only in Greek, at the following link: http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/PAGE-themes? p_param=A1604&r_param=SAP06&y_param=2001_00&mytabs=0

Population data broken down by building block are also available to users upon request.

The NSSG, in the framework of the forthcoming Population and Housing Census 2011, has already conducted the Pilot Population Census 2009.

Progress in the URBAN AUDIT data collection

Almost all the available variables for the 3rd round of UA data collection have been transmitted to Eurostat via e-DAMIS. The quality control of the variables and indicators and the final reports have been forwarded to EUROSTAT.

We have encountered some difficulties in co-operating with some sources outside the NSSG, whereas some others have already forwarded their data to us.

A special URBAN AUDIT link, with all the data collected by the NSSG (all three rounds), and also maps, will be developed and presented in our website by the end of the year. At the moment, there is only the link to the UA’s website available in our portal.

A working group is about to be formed for a very promising for the NSSG project. The construction of an e- application, similar to CARP, where all the data available on NUTS 3 to LAU 2 level, for Greece, will appear on GIS. It will be available in our portal www.statistics.gr, hopefully, by next year.

As for the 4th round of the UA data collection, the grant application for the UA 2009-2010 has already been sent to EUROSTAT and waiting for their reply.

Concerning the TASK (Territorial Analysis through Statistics and Knowledge) project, the NSSG can provide statistical data at NUTS 3 level. We will also be able to provide estimated data on Labour Market statistics (LAMAS) at NUTS 3 level or at least for most of the departments (Nomoi) due to the fact that the LFS is a sample survey and thus it does not give very reliable data at smaller geographical breakdown.

Finally, as for the Regional Accounts, the NSSG can provide data on NUTS 2 level on the Gross Fixed Capital Formation and the Household Accounts. Estimations on growth rates at NUTS 2 level can be provided in the future, as we face a problem concerning the current lack of staff.

A new chart of the INE entered into force in June 2009. Legally, the INE is represented by two governing bodies: the President and the Governing Board. Besides, the new structure is composed of two Directorates General and twelve Sub-Directorates, who depend directly on the President.

The President, both Directorates General and six of the twelve Sub-Directorates form the Governing Board. The Sub-Directorate for National Accounts has been renamed as Sub-Directorate for Economic Accounts and Employment and is included in the Governing Board. In addition to the tasks related with National Accounts, now it is in charge as well of performing coordination tasks on the Sub-Directorate for Labour Market statistics. These changes do not have a major effect on the Division for Regional Accounts.

Urban Audit

Before summer 2009 we started with the annual collection data for the reference years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. 12 variables from the demographic domain were sent to Eurostat. We are now working hard with the varibles which need estimation. We have sent the Grant Application documentation and we decided to fix 28 months for the Urban Audit IV, with the 1st September as the starting date.

The development of a GIS (Geographical Information System) based on the urban data that began in May 2008 is quite advanced and hopefully we can put it into action in the first quarter of 2010.

In parallel to the GIS we are loading the data of the project in the database of our web site www.ine.es and we expect to open to the public at the end of the year.

Finally, we have taken some actions concerning dissemination of urban information.

Regional Accounts

During the summer 2009, Spain transmitted the “Regional GVA Inventories” as well as the grant application falling under the Grant Agreement no. 20201.2008.001-2008.207. The final report has recently been approved by Eurostat.

At the beginning of October Spain will provide first results for the new aggregate “hours worked” at NUTS level 2 for the period 2000-2006. This aggregate is included in the current ESA delivery program and from December 2009 onwards will be transmitted with the rest of data in T+24. It is important to underline that the hours worked to be provided in October may be revised as well as other aggregates for the “still open” years 2005-2008 in the December transmission.

France

In France we had the opening of the dissemination web site for the 2006 census results on 1st July. That concluded several years of effort, between the start in 2000 from preparatory work to the new organisation and new method of an annual census now, the proceeding from 2004 to 2008 of the first five years of collection that were necessary to obtain a reference year of the new census, and the preparation of the dissemination over two years.

There also are changes which will dawn in the field of employment statistics with the arrival of a new source of employment estimates. Based on the exclusive use of administrative sources, it will replace the current source which integrated information of the census. In theory, that will result in an improvement in quality and in timeliness.

As was already announced last year, the revision work of our functional zoning should really start now in autumn. That incorporates in particular zonings equivalent to the LMAs and to the Metropolitan Areas.

On the Urban Audit, the main part of work was dedicated to:

. build indicators for some officially deprived neighbourhoods that will be used to update the boundaries of the sub city territories that are currently the targets for support from central government. These basic indicators were disseminated on the web. Essentially this was an opportunity to extend the production processes to new territories (as far as the Indian Ocean) and new data sources.

. build a first set of data coming from the census for the standard statistical output areas ("IRIS"). This data will be disseminated on the web before the end of the year. This means that Urban Audit sub-city district data can be updated end of the year.

For sub-city statistics, the work will focus on two issues:

. extend the set of indicators available for the officially deprived neighbourhoods, using small area estimations in order to cover the smaller ones which are beyond the scope of the census.

. start some dissemination of grid statistics in two ways: internal work for the dissemination of administrative data on small scale grids and a participation at an ESSnet project for the dissemination of census gridded data (1km² scale grid).

At city level, the main thing will be a new definition of the morphological cities ("unités urbaines") mid 2010, and followed by a new definition of commuting zones ("aires urbaines"). This will have direct consequences on the LUZ level of the Urban Audit which will have to be renewed during the year 2011.

Starting from the second half of 2008 and through all 2009 the main task, on territorial matter, for the Institute is to build up the basis for the next census round. In particular we are involved in:

. Implementing the Geographic Information System (GIS) and consequently the new geo-database which contains all the necessary administrative boundaries (regions, provinces and municipalities) for the whole national territory. The geodatabase also includes the boundaries of inhabited areas (località abitate) and enumeration areas (sezioni di censimento) in order to update the situation at the last census of 2001.

. Updating the geo-database with the new boundaries of inhabited areas and enumeration areas due to growth of build-up areas in the period after the census 2001 (census mapping), using aerial pictures of the territory and various kind of digital maps.

. Producing cartographic elaboration (in PDF format) and putting them on a website, where the municipalities could download the files, modify them and send them to ISTAT in a revision version.

This updating process is a strategic and complex activity put in place in view of the carrying out the next censuses.

With regard to the statistical side, and with attention paid to territorial data integrations, the activities and most significant outputs are as follows:

 The publication of the “Administrative and geographical statistics atlas” which allows to identify, analyse and graphically represent administrative and functional bounds used on the national territory. The publication provides the analysis of the main territorial aggregations used for statistical purposes (NUTS, LLMAs, industrial districts, etc.) and for administrative purposes (ASL, Mountain Communities, sub-city districts, etc.). In the publication are also included the related geographical files linked to each different aggregation (in shapefile format) (http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20090728_00/).

 Estimation of the resident occupation (LFS definition) and unemployment by Local Labour Market Areas (LLMAs or SLL in Italian) for 2006-2008. These estimations were strongly used in chapter 3 of the last Annual Report about the situation in Italy, produced once a year by ISTAT (http://www.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20090526_00/).

 Monthly updating of the database of the regional indicators (160 indicators by NUTS2 and for the period 1995-2007) used by Ministry of economy in order to evaluate the results of the

structural funds in “Convergence Regions” (http://www.istat.it/ambiente/contesto/infoterr/azioneB.html ).

Moreover, it is essential to point out two important software applications extremely useful for the territorial analysis. The first one manages, through the web, a database containing all the administrative unit variations (regions, provinces and municipalities) that took place from 1960 till nowadays. To document the variations of the most important units used for the territorial analysis is a very useful tool.

Secondly, always in the view of carrying out the censuses, another software application has been acquired which starting from a list of postal addresses with street numbers (of families, enterprises, production facilities, etc) allows to redistribute the geographical coordination XY of such points on the territory. This application, currently in a test phase, will allow to test the possibility to georefer statistical and administrative archives on the territory.

Finally, the following products are going to be finalised soon:

The updated version of “Statistical Atlas of Municipalities”, a database about the LAU2 level (Municipalities) coming from administrative archives and census data (is possible to consult the latest version at: http://www.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20061102_00/) has been already done; ISTAT has completed to update the database and improving the software included (data extraction, mapping, etc.).The dissemination is planned for December 2009.

 In May 2008, ISTAT has released (http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20080507_00/) a new publication called “100 statistiche per il Paese” which contains the main indicators for a large number of socio-economic domains with national and regional breakdown and EU-27 comparison. At the moment ISTAT is working at the 2009 edition that will be entirely disseminated by the web.

 Finally a publication is at the printer “La dotazione di infrastrutture e servizi nella sanità - Anni 2004 – 2005”, which explores the important topic of infrastructural endowment of the health system in Italian regions.

Cyprus

The Regional Statistics unit at the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) forms part of the Demography, Social Statistics and Tourism Division of the NSI.

CYSTAT, and more specifically the Demography Division, is currently in the process of implementing a Geographical Information System to be used in the organisation and implementation of the next Census of Population which will take place in 2011. Moreover, a project is underway concerning the road network digitization of the island which is executed by a private contractor on behalf of CYSTAT. The project in question is expected to be completed in January 2010.

CYSTAT participates in the current round of the Urban Audit data collection, however without a grant agreement.

Regarding data dissemination, almost all of the publications of CYSTAT are bilingual (in Greek and English) and they are available on the website of CYSTAT (http://www.mof.gov.cy/cystat). The latter covers the following statistical themes: Economy and Finance; Prices and inflation; Population and Social Conditions;

Labour; External Trade; Agriculture; Industry, Construction; Energy, Environment; Transport, Tourism, Trade and other services; Other. Annual data is produced at the NUTS 3 level, which is the national level, since Cyprus is classified as one region at NUTS level 3. In most cases, data is also available at the LAU1 level. Data at the LAU2 level is available in the relevant publications referring to the 2001 Census of Population, the 2005 Census of Establishments and the 2003 Census of Agriculture.

Latvia

The Administrative Territorial Reform (ATR) has been implemented in Latvia by the local government elections of 2009 with the purpose to establish administrative territories (counties) capable of economic development. According to The Law about Administrative Territories and Settlements adopted by the Parliament in 18th December 2008 there are new administrative units in force by 1st July 2009 - 118 local municipalities (109 counties and 9 republican cities). These municipalities will comprise LAU level 2. The LAU level 1 that consisted of administrative districts that were abolished by 1st July 2009 no longer exists.

The CSB has evaluated the possible consequences of ATR for statistics. The data will be published according to new administrative territories starting from 2010. A majority of data on municipality level will be subject to statistical confidentiality; therefore data mainly will be available by statistical regions.

In order to improve the understanding of statistical data among the younger generation, the CSB decided to enrich its homepage with a section “School corner” that will be released in October 2009, where statistical data will be presented for educational purposes in an easily understandable, meaningful and attractive way.

Lithuania

In 2008, 243 press releases were prepared and disseminated in Statistics Lithuania (in 2007, it was 229). Also, about 6.3 thousand quotations were released in the main national media, of which in the regional media – more than one thousand articles containing relevant regional statistics.

The terms of the publication of monthly statistical information were reduced, on average, by one day, quarterly – on average, by two days, annual – on average, by twenty-four days and ensure the accessibility of statistical information in the most appropriate form. All statistical publications and press releases prepared by Statistics Lithuania are published on the institution’s website; much statistical information at the national and regional level is published in the Database of Indicators, structured pre-defined tables.

In 2008, more than 200 titles of publications of various periodicity were prepared, which are available in printed or electronic form. Most of them were prepared both in Lithuanian and English. Since 2009 the number of publications in various formats was reduced significantly.

Statistics Lithuania, together with the specialists of the Ministry of the Interior, with the assistance of the Ministry of Economy, the Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania and county governor’s administrations, prepared a publication – a socio-economic review – on the regions of Lithuania (available on a CD-ROM). The publication presents statistical information on the socio-economic development, demographic and environmental processes, economic and agricultural conditions in historical and geographical data on the regions for 2001–2007, as well as useful links. The electronic publication Portrait of the Regions

14 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics of Lithuania is available free of charge on the websites of Statistics Lithuania, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economy.

In 2008, the main source for the dissemination of statistical information – the Database of Indicators – was supplemented with 295 datasets, as well as during 2 quarters of 2009 – 53 datasets at national and regional levels. The interactive means developed allow users to access statistical information, stored in the Database of Indicators, save it on their computers; registered users may also save the database queries made, which are then automatically updated after new statistical information has been published. In the Database of Indicators, users may not only search for statistical indicators but also form tables, edit them, as well as picture statistical information on diagrams or maps. At the end of 2008, the Database of Indicators contained 1215 datasets, broken down by domain, which made up 69 per cent of statistical information, produced based on the Work Programme of Official Statistics.

In September 2008, in the course of carrying out preparatory work for the Population and Housing Census 2011, the first pilot census was carried out, whose purpose was comparison of pilot census data, assessment of possibilities for the use of administrative data, establishment of the manner of carrying out the census. Taking into consideration requirements set in EU legal acts, the preparation of draft national legal acts related to the Population and Housing Census 2011 of the Republic of Lithuania has been started.

For the estimation of international migration (including the undeclare one) flows, a statistical survey on the population was conducted at the beginning of 2009, which allowed determining the number of persons who had left the country in 2008 without declaring their departure. Based on the data of the declaration of the place of residence and from the undeclared emigration survey, the number of residents of Lithuania who had emigrated in 2008, their demographic, social and economic characteristics have been estimated.

A press release "A slowdown in emigration" has been published, a statistical publication "Migration of the Lithuanian Population 2008" will be prepared. The publication will present analytical statistical information on long-term international migration processes; socioeconomic factors conditioning the attitude of the Lithuanian population towards migration, consequences of migration processes for the demographic development, labour market and standard of living are analysed.

Taking into consideration the needs of users of demographic statistics, a statistical publication "Demographic Yearbook 2008" has been supplemented with a new chapter Demographic forecasts, a statistical publication "Women and Men in Lithuania 2008" – with analytical statistical information on gender equality in Lithuania, statistical information on registered victims (women and men) of criminal offences, the Database of Indicators – with gender statistics for 2008 by county and municipality and statistical information on violence against women in the family.

The results of a statistical Structure of Earnings Survey conducted in 2007 have been published, which allowed estimating the number of employees, earnings by occupation, educational attainment, age, length of service, sex, economic activity. Statistical information has been produced at the county level.

Statistical indicators of business structure (number of affiliates, persons employed and value added) at the municipal level have been produced for the first time and published in the Database of Indicators. For the purpose of expanding the range of regional statistics, the information about new registration of road vehicles (new and re-registered) by municipality has been provided for the first time in the Database of Indicators. Nevertheless, statistical information on accommodation and tourism enterprises at the municipal level, on rural tourism – at the county level has been released in a publication "Tourism in Lithuania".

Preparatory work for the Agricultural Census 2010 has been continued. After an analysis of possibilities for using administrative data for census works, the mode of conducting the census and data processing has been determined: use of administrative data and interview of land users.

The results of an Agricultural Structure Survey, conducted in 2007, have been prepared and provided to users in a publication, which presents comprehensive statistical information on the number of farms, their average size, land and land use, farmers and their family members, the number of hired farm workers and their working time, other (non-agricultural) activity, number of animals by species, etc. at the county and municipal levels.

According to the Eurostat’s Grant 2007 agreement Statistics Lithuania carried out a Project Drafting of Regional GVA Inventories. Final report for this project was transmitted to Eurostat in February 2009. RGVA Inventory gave actual qualitative information about main data sources, concepts and methods used in compiling the Regional accounts by kind of activity. The RGVA Inventory was also translated into Lithuanian.

The share of the non-observed economy in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2007 has been estimated. Provisional (for 2008) and revised final (for 2007) GDP estimates by county have been published. Due to the major revision of Lithuanian GDP for the period 2000–2006 which had been carried out in 2008, the revision of Regional GDP and GVA was done for the same period and data were published in 2009.

A new website "Statistics for schools" (see: http://mokyklele.stat.gov.lt/index.php?id=74) was created in 2009. This website provides all users with useful information about how to search for, understand and use statistical information.

Luxembourg

Due to its size, the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg has been classified as one NUTS level 3 region. Consequently, its national data corresponds to its regional data (contrary to most of the other EU countries). In Luxembourg, data on LAU level 2 is considered as “regional statistics”.

Regional data (LAU level 2) has been integrated now in the statistical yearbook 2008 (printed version and online version www.statistiques.lu) and will be updated every year instead of every 5 years. Up to now no English version is available on our statistical portal but we are working on it.

Task force "statistics" of the statistical offices of the Greater Region (Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz (Germany), Lorraine (France), Wallonie (Belgium) and Luxembourg): In the framework of the new project supported by the Interreg IV A program 2007-2013, entitled: Research and analysis of new harmonised indicators for the Greater Region: a thematic approach, a study on continuous vocational training will be published by the end of 2009. In 2010, the working group will set up new indicators on sustainable development in the Greater Region.

Last but not least, STATEC, in cooperation with CEPS/Instead, is currently collecting data for the Urban Audit 2009/2010 project.

Hungary

The next population census (2011)

The governmental decision came into power in October 2008 concerning a full-scope census to be executed in Hungary. After this decision preparations have started. It is important to emphasise that all required compulsory topics in EU regulation will be available on locality level due to this decision. In the current phase preparatory works are in progress, and in the course of preparations various pilot censuses have been persecuted (2008, 2009). The act on census is before adoption.

Urban Audit

The data collection of Urban Audit IV has started on 1st September 2009 concerning the previous territorial units. At present the validation process is going on, which will be finished on 1 of December. The real data collection phase will start following this date.

Interaktive maps on the website of HCSO

On the field of regional statistics significant efforts were made concerning the visualisation of regional data. Interactive maps were compiled to the website of the office that can be queried on different regional level and with different appearance. http://www.ksh.hu/maps/teratlas/indexeng.html

Spatial information in registers

In line with the new strategic plans for 2009-2012, HCSO is currently working on assessing the information stored in its registers and databases. The main goals of this assessment are to examine the possibilities in data linkage and data harmonisation, to extend the register data with spatial information and to encourage the use of spatial information in analyses and publications. This work can be harmonised with the „preparation of the 2011 population census” project, since new digital maps are to be bought to support the field work and data collection. Yet, the method on how to make the register data more complete with spatial information is currently not decided yet as it highly depends on the progress of the current assessment project and other factors.

Quality of regional data

At the end of 2008 our office accepted the template of HCSO Standard Quality Report which is extended with an annex especially for analysing the quality of regional statistics. The HCSO Quality Report based on the ESS standards, follows all quality components. It contains several quality indicators and many evaluation questions. The filling in is started in 2009 for all statistical domains, currently it is available for internal users only.

Regional Accounts

The experts of the HCSO regularly participate in the GVA, GDP task force meetings concerning the regional accounts, on the working group meetings and in the actual methodological improvements.

Regional government expenditure statistics (RGES)

The experts of the HCSO joined to the RGES works. The actual results and further tasks were summarized on the meeting of the Financial Accounts Working Group on June 2009.

Regional Statistics

The National Statistics Office (NSO), in 2005 released a first set of regional information with respect to the two statistical regions of the Maltese Islands – Island of Malta and Gozo (NUTS level 3). The statistical data is spread over twelve themes mainly: population, education, culture, employment, household characteristics, land use, tourism, transport, the economy, energy, water and waste generation. The first release had a cut-of-line date between 2003 and 2004 depending on the type of indicators. The regional database can be accessed through the following link http://www.nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=165 .

The NSO at the moment is reviewing the whole dataset to update with the latest data. There are some statistics which will no longer feature as they are not available any longer. Moreover there will be the addition of some new statistics especially in the tourism sector. It is expected that such exercise will be completed by the end of November 2009.

Urban Audit

NSO grant application for Urban Audit 2009 – 2010 has been sent to Eurostat. Identification of variables was done by the end of June 2009, and the compilation of the ANNUAL 2007 was transmitted to Eurostat at the end of August 2009. Data collection for the EXHAUSTIVE 2008 has started and various units at the National Statistics Office and other national authorities are collaborating in the compilation of data.

Netherlands

Nearness of amenities In 2009 results were published for the first time on a new type of spatial analysis which concentrates on nearness. How far are certain amenities from a given location and how many of such amenities can be found within a given distance from that location? The results show that amenities are not equally distributed throughout the country. The lowest regional level on which the results are published is that of neighbourhoods. Examples of topics covered are nearness of physicians and access points to (provincial) highways. Other topics under development are nearness of public libraries, (day) nurseries and schools. The new statistics have been met with enthusiasm by users. Statistics on the nearness of amenities can be placed within a general context of diminishing difference between spatial and regional statistics. Another important development in this regard is the Social Statistical Database that is under construction at Statistics Netherlands.

Social Statistical Database For a number of years Statistics Netherlands has been developing the Social Statistical Database. The SSD is not really one database but it’s a collection of registers, censuses, business and household surveys that have

18 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics been joined and integrated in a consistent way. Ultimately the SSD will contain all the relevant information on persons, families, households, jobs, benefits and living quarters in the Netherlands offering a very rich source of information for research. The fact that this information is combined with a certain location makes it possible to (easily) construct desired regional divisions, and ultimately also to construct regional time-series.

‘Provincie op Maat’ – statistics for Dutch Provinces In December 2008 Statistics Netherlands published a new regional publication called ‘Provincie op Maat’. This bi-annual publication consists of twelve booklets, one for each of the 12 Dutch provinces (NUTS 2 regions). The basic build-up of the publication is the same for each province but the text, figures and maps are all flexible making it a unique publication for each province. The publication is similar to another regional publication Statistics Netherlands makes for each of the Dutch municipalities (LAU-2 regions). Both can be downloaded as pdf-documents from the website. Provincie op Maat originates in the wish of SN to intensify it’s relation with the provinces. It was presented during visits to each of the provinces, so-called ‘roadshows’ which took place during the spring of 2009. A typical roadshow consisted of a general presentation on Statistics Netherlands, the sort of services it can offer to researchers and executives at the provinces, and a presentation on the availability of regional data – a view on what’s possible and what’s not. Links to the publications (in Dutch only): Provincie op Maat (http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/dossiers/nederland-regionaal/publicaties/provincie-op- maat/archief/2007/default.htm) Gemeente op Maat (http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/dossiers/nederland-regionaal/publicaties/gemeente-op-maat/gemeente-op- maat/default.htm)

Living in the Netherlands Within the same paradigm of intensifying relations with regional partners Statistics Netherlands will present the second edition of ‘Leven in Nederland’. This publication is a co-production between Statistics Netherlands and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). Each statistical chapter in the book consists of two parts; an essay setting the topic within a political and contemporary context written by the VNG and another part that contains relevant statistics on the topic delivered and analysed by Statistics Netherlands. The publication will be available later in 2009 in time to be of value for the municipal elections that will take place in March of 2010.

Link to the 2007-publication (in Dutch only): Leven in Nederland (http://www.cbs.nl/nl- NL/menu/themas/dossiers/vergrijzing/publicaties/publicaties/archief/2007/2007-leven-in-nederland-pub.htm)

‘Gemeente op Maat’ - user research During the spring of 2009 Statistics Netherlands carried out a user-research for the regional publication ‘Gemeente op Maat’ (Municipality Tailor-Made). Municipalities were approached and through a survey asked to give their opinion on the publication. In general the publication was well appreciated. Strong points were the ability to compare municipalities through the publication and benchmark possibilities, and the presentation of general statistics on a number of topics. A point of improvement would be the inclusion of more trend analysis and more up to date information. At the moment the publication is only available as a PDF-document from the SN website. A large share of the municipalities indicated a preference for a paper version of the publication and therefore this year printed versions of the publication will be sent to all the municipalities in the Netherlands. Currently about a third of the Dutch municipalities presents a paper version of ‘Gemeente op Maat’ at their town hall, about 25 percent link to the publication at Statistics Netherlands on their website.

Austria

Homepage of STATISTICS AUSTRIA

Some time ago Statistics Austria published on its website the „Austrian Regional Atlas“ (link: http://www.statistik.at/web_de/services/regionalatlas_oesterreich/index.html, at this moment only available in German). It is a new online tool which presents social and economic statistics through 15 000 maps. At the moment data is provided on two different breakdown levels (Austrian federal provinces, the NUTS 2 regions, and NUTS 3-level). The “Austrian Regional Atlas” allows free access to 20 economic and social variables like population data, tourism data or data from regional accounts. Further features like time and regional comparisons as well as supporting tables and graphs are offered in this new statistical tool.

Progress in Urban Audit Data Collection

The grant application for the new round of Urban Audit, data collection for 2007 was sent by Austria in June 2009. After receiving the final contract, the data collection will be started according to the contract.

Regional Accounts

At the end of this year Austria will be able to provide first results for the new aggregate “hours worked” on the NUTS 2 level for the years 1995 to 2007. They are part of the actual ESA delivery program – table 1000.

Poland

1. Organizational structure changes

Since the beginning of 2009 a new organisation of statistical work has been implemented in Poland. Regional statistical offices have started specialising in different subjects of surveys conducted throughout the country.

Regarding these changes regional statistics services consist of Regional and Environmental Surveys Division (as the coordinator) with few supporting centres in regional statistical offices (especially 5 centres: Centre of Transborder Areas and Statistics for Euroregions in Rzeszów, Centre for Urban Statistics in Poznań, Research Centre for Rural Areas in Olsztyn, Statistical Service Centre of Local Administration in Bydgoszcz and Centre for Regional Data Bank in Jelenia Góra).

2. Main tasks in the field of regional research

- Urban statistics – For the first time since 1988 CSO Poland has carried out a new research “Flows of population connected with employment”. Research focuses on presenting data on directions and intensity of commuting, which are relevant for the spatial delimitation.

- Transborder areas and euroregional statistics – CSO Poland participates in international cooperation in field of euroregional statistics. An exchange of comparable data is carried out. Its results are presented in publications e.g. “Polish-Slovakian-Ukrainian Borderland” or “Kaliningradskaya Oblast and Warmińsko-mazurskie Voivodship in figures”.

Since the 3rd quarter of 2008 “The survey of turnover of goods and services in border traffic at the external border of the European Union in Poland” has been conducted in a quarterly cycle to expand the statistical information on the trade turnover with Ukraine; with Belarus and Russia in the future.

The main goal of this survey is to estimate the volume and the structure of import and export of goods, which is not registered on SAD customs’ documents.

3. Regional statistics website

A new website Regional Statistics has been launched, containing information on the regional publications, NTS/NUTS classifications, strategic documents on regional development, different rankings of Polish regions and the results of previous Urban Audit editions.

4. Improving regional database

New Regional Data Bank website layout is a result of a few improvements made last year. A new more user friendly interface was implemented with easier access to data, widened scope of presented variables and set-up archive data for 45 NUTS 3 (before the change in 2007). Additionally, last year a new module “Territorial portrait” was launched. It contains statistical data set about selected territorial unit (LAU1, LAU 2, NUTS 1, NUTS 2, NUTS 3).

5. Designing new database

One of the main objectives of regional statistics is to create a new and improved database - Local Data Bank targeted especially to individuals and institutions (local governments) interested in local data. In order to extend the scope of data available on settlement level, CSO Poland managed in recent year to set the database functionalities, interface as well as the ways of visualising data.

6. Cooperation with public administration, local authorities and other partners

CSO Poland has established a Working Group on Statistical Information System for Regional Policy Purposes which cooperates with public administration and local governments (e.g. Ministry of Regional Development) and discusses the needs for information and statistical analysis to support the monitoring of regional policy. It results in improving the quality, comparability, and the availability of regional statistical data.

Portugal

Context indicators system for NSRF in Statistics Portugal Portal

The Territorial based context indicator system for National Strategic Reference Framework (NSFR) was implemented in Statistics Portugal’s Portal, Territory thematic files, next to two other available indicator systems: Demographic sustainability and Socio-economic characterisation at the micro-territorial level:

 http://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_perfterrindic.

The QREN context indicators allows users to explore more than three hundred indicators structured by strategic dimensions of development defined for NSRF - Qualification of population, Sustainable Growth, Social Cohesion, Qualification of territory and cities, Governance Efficiency - and its sub-dimensions. Due to the importance of the previous delimitation of NUTS for domestic regional planning the users can choose to explore this database with the current NUTS version (2006) but also with the former version of NUTS.

ISDR – a Regional Development Composite Indicator for Portugal

Statistics Portugal and DPP (Planning and Prospective Department, a body of Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Regional Development) developed a composite indicator to monitor regional development at NUTS level 3.

 http://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain? xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_publicacoes&PUBLICACOESpub_boui=70096078&PUBLICACOESmodo= 2

The study was launched on an open session last May. The discussion was opened by a presentation from OECD where pros and cons of composite indicators were discussed as a mean to transform the information - based on a multidimensional perspective - into knowledge and the results were commented by NSRF Observatory coordinator and by a senior professor on regional development.

The indicator has a two-tier structure in the sense that the overall development in each region results from the performance regarding three components: competitiveness, cohesion and environmental quality. It aims at making available a tool that can support the context analysis of public policies with territorial impact and that may also be useful for other agents interested in territorial matters so the basic indicators were mostly selected from the Territorial based context indicators system for the NSRF.

The results for 2006 show that as regards the overall indicator of regional development, only five regions out of 30 stood above the national average. The results illustrate an asymmetry of the country in terms of overall development and competitiveness, albeit more balanced regarding cohesion and, to a lesser extent, also more balanced regarding environmental quality. Despite the more intense regional asymmetries found in competitiveness, these are the result of 17 regional converging behaviours to the national average in the 2004- 2006 period.

Portugal Territorial Portrait – an analytical publication to analyse Portuguese territorial dynamics

Statistics Portugal released the Territorial Portrait of Portugal, under a new editorial guidance. This biennial publication analyses the Portuguese territorial dynamics structured by the domains territorial qualification, cohesion and quality of life and competitiveness and growth that were presented in this edition on the following approaches: the organization of the territory and buildings requalification, the employability on the context of the inter-regional cohesion and the production profile and the innovation in the Portuguese regions.

This analytical publication explores the sources of information edited on the Regional Yearbooks and is supported by thematic maps, graphs and comprehensive methodological boxes to explain the most complex measures used or to present the potentialities of specific data sources for territorial analysis.

To explore one example of the Regional Yearbook (Norte Region):

New Portuguese Urban-Rural Typology approved

Within the scope of competences of the Statistical Council Territorial Base Standing Section (SPEBT-CSE), INE has proposed a methodological revision of the national Urban Rural Typology. This proposal aimed to classify LAU 2 units based on objective criteria, preferably with existing information on the National Statistics System. The classification classifies the LAU 2 Portuguese units in Predominantly Urban Areas, Predominantly Rural Areas and Median Urban Areas and nominates Urban, Rural and Median Urban areas.

This proposal was discussed with relevant bodies of public administration and in July 2009 the Statistical Council Territorial Base Standing Section (SPEBT-CSE) approved the report which presents the new urban- rural typology and recommended its approval to Statistical Council Coordination Base Standing Section (SPCE-CSE). The report was approved by this Standing Section in August and finally the typology was published by the Portuguese Republic Daily Journal: Deliberation Nr. 2717/2009.

Study on the Local Purchasing Power 2007

Territorial Statistics Unit has lately been working on the results for 2007 of the Study on the Local Purchasing Power which will be launched by the end of November.

The study aims to characterise the 308 Portuguese municipalities from a purchasing power perspective, based on a set of indicators obtained from a factor analysis model. The study presents three indicators: Purchasing Power Per capita indicator; Percentage of purchasing power; Relative dynamism factor (exhibiting purchasing power mostly associated with tourism activities). The advantage of these indicators is that they are provided at LAU 1 level, territorial unit for which there is scarcity of available statistical information of this nature. The publication includes a CD-ROM with a user-friendly interface that allows to export data to other territories delimitations than current NUTS and municipalities (e.g. former NUTS and agrarian and forestry regions) and to calculate the indicators for geographies built by the users.

Urban Audit IV Data Collection

The grant application for the new round of Urban Audit data collection was sent by Portugal in June 2009. In the meantime a new National Urban Audit Coordinator had to be found in order to tackle with human resources changes in the Territorial Statistics Unit. The data collection will be started when the signed contract is sent to Statistics Portugal by Eurostat.

Romania

Approval of the new law of statistics

In June this year a new law was approved on the organisation and functioning of official statistics in Romania (Law no. 226/2009) with the aim to improve the legal framework governing the organisation and functioning of the official statistics in Romania.

In comparison with the old legal framework, the new statistical law provides changes and additions such as:

 Setting up the National Statistical System, which will bring together in one integrated, coordinated and coherent package the main producers of official statistics, namely:

 the National Institute of Statistics, its territorial Directorates and other subordinated institutions;  the statistical offices of the central public administration;  the statistical offices of the local public administration;  the statistical offices of the other public authorities and institutions other than those in the structure of National Bank of Romania;  the National Bank of Romania.

 Setting up the National Statistical System Committee (COMSTAT), with is an advisory body composed by representatives of the producers of the official statistics

 Setting up the statistical offices in ministries and in other authorities and central government and local institutions

Data Dissemination

TEMPO data base

The process of improving and extending the TEMPO database has continued in 2009 by:

. Entering information at the macroregion level – loading TEMPO with information at macroregion level for 216 array covering 20 domains, for period 1990 and 2007;

. Construction of new tables and indicators in the database at NUTS 3 level, reflecting the transition to NACE rev2 for: employees, earnings, turnover and number of active local units, etc.;

. Creation of 137 new arrays and restoration of series for 39 arrays related to the following areas: standard of living, labour force, prices, industry, business statistics, transport, domestic trade, services and construction, most of them as a necessity imposed by the transition to NACE Rev. 2, but also by the availability of data at macroregion level.

New publications at regional profile

 „ Adult education in Romania”. In the first half of year 2009 the survey results on the Adult Education in Romania (AEDA) have been disseminated through "Adult education in Romania" publication. This survey allows to assess the level of education and training for people aged 25 to 64 years, which followed in the last 12 months (April 2007 - March 2008) one or more types of formal, non-formal and informal education. The Information is available at the region level (NUTS 2)

 „The health of the Romania’ population”. The publication includes data on NUTS 2 level on the assessment of population health, individual morbidity, calls to health services, consumption of drugs, etc.

 „Statistical Yearbook of Regions”. The publication combines the statistical indicators presented at NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 level, which comes from statistical surveys conducted by National Statistical Institute, other public institutions, ministries, in line with the Annual Statistical Surveys Programme and coming from administrative data sources.

The publication represents a first step for the realisation, on a permanent base, of the "Statistical Yearbook of the Regions" following the same methodology and structure, thus providing comparative statistics to all interested parties in each region of Romania.

 Manual for the production of the statistical indicators at regional level. This handbook includes information on regional and urban statistics respectively:

 the region concept at European level, NUTS classification;

 the main aspects of a regional territorial statistics in Romania,

o the legal framework for regional statistical groups; o the collection and the dissemination of regional indicators; o the dissemination of regional indicators - databases, publicationa at local level, etc. o Urban Statistics

Regional accounts

The review of regional accounts according to ESA 95 for the period 1999-2001 was completed and data were transmitted to Eurostat in August this year.

This action consisted of:

- the review of regional GDP by production method for reconciliation with annual data for the period 1999-2002;

- the review of the allocation of income account and of the secondary income distribution account for the "Households" sector, for reconciliation with annual data for the period 1999-2002;

- the calculation of gross fixed capital at counties level (NUTS 3) and region level (NUTS 2) for reconciliation with annual data for the period 1999-2002

- Loading data into the TEMPO database

Urban Audit

Although the last project on Urban Audit ended in April 2007, some activities continued related to the Urban Audit data. From January till February a new validation process was carried out for some of the transmitted data. All of the variables have been confirmed or corrected where necessary.

All the requests received from Eurostat have been answered, related to data validation and other problems occurred.

We have also answered to the call for the proposal of Urban Audit grant 2009-2010. All the necessary materials have been filled and sent to Eurostat.

We have also participated at the “Urban Audit City Panel”.

Members of “Urban Audit City Panel” were involved in the process of Urban Audit Analysis:

- reading and commenting intermediate reports in December and March with initial analysis of gathered data;

- identifying and discussing which more in-depth analysis in Urban Audit or additional information, is needed;

- participating in the workshop on 30 and 31 March 2009 in Berlin.

The participation to the workshop presented a very good opportunity to better understand the possible use of the data by the cities and the need for better metadata information.

Slovenia

Regional accounts

According to the revised NUTS classification in the field of regional accounts Slovenia developed the methodology for the data at NUTS 2 level for: Gross fixed capital formation, Compensation of employees and Household accounts. In December 2008 those data were published for the first time.

Publications

The forth edition of the publication entitled Slovene Regions in Figures was published. http://www.stat.si/eng/pub_regije.asp

The publication is in Slovenian and English. The structure of the publication was changed because some data and indicators at NUTS level 2 (cohesion regions) were added. Regions are shown with the most interesting and characteristic indicators in tables, maps and charts.

Slovene Municipalities in Figures

In May 2009 we published a new publication entitled Slovene Municipalities in Figures. The concept is similar as for the Slovene Regions in Figures. All municipalities, which follow one another in alphabetical order, are presented with the same set of the data and are a kind of 'Mirror of the Municipalities'. On the other hand, municipalities can also be compared one with the other/s with the help of the data shown in the maps. The maps present individual indicators that are linked into several statistical fields.

210 maps show in a clear way the diversity of Slovene municipalities on one hand and the similarities between them on the other. Presentation on the maps enables users to find out the territorial distribution of the data and the indicators. http://www.stat.si/eng/pub_obcine2009.asp

Place Names Database

We updated the database called Place Names (http://www.stat.si/eng/KrajevnaImena/ ) with register-based data for the population (male/female) at the level of settlements.

SI-STAT Data Portal

(http://www.stat.si/pxweb/Dialog/statfile1.asp )

In the Cross-sectional reviews it is possible to obtain data for different statistical areas at NUTS 2 (cohesion regions), NUTS 3 (statistical regions) and LAU 2 (municipalities) levels.

Website for regional statistics

(http://www.stat.si/eng/tema_splosno_upravno.asp )

On this website users can find news, Rapid Reports, information about territorial breakdowns, NUTS classification, etc.

Geographical Information Systems

SORS has established a national hierarchical grid system in cooperation with Surveying and mapping authority of the Republic of Slovenia. Current work on grids primarily involves the determining of the data protection policy and the activities connected to the European forum for geostatistics and the GEOSTAT project.

Thematic maps http://www.stat.si/TematskaKartografija/Default.aspx?lang=eng

In June 2009 we established a website where we published thematic maps at NUTS 3 and LAU 2 levels.

Thematic maps are prepared in advance for different statistical fields. Thematic maps can be seen on screen; besides that, a useful format for printing is also available. Furthermore, in some cases you can open excel files where you can find statistical data which are in accordance with particular maps.

Interactive Statistical Atlas of Slovenia http://www.stat.si/eng/iatlas.asp

By publishing the Interactive Statistical Atlas of Slovenia, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia adds a new service for users on its website and invites them to explore differences between regions and municipalities with the help of statistical data. Showing statistical data on maps is very important also for users working in the field of regional development. Our aim is to support regional policy making by presenting statistical data in a clear and concise way.

In the tool a user can select indicators, territorial levels (statistical regions or municipalities) and map presentations for available years. When moving the mouse over the map, data are displayed, same as when moving the mouse over the chart on the right-hand side. When selecting a region, the chart shows only municipalities of the selected region and it also provides an option to sort regions or municipalities by alphabet or by rank.

Slovakia

Information system of the SO SR

Within the "Operational Programme Information Society" (OPIS), SO SR applied for financial assistance for the project called Electronic Services of the SO SR. The main goal of the project is to create unified, fully integrated information system of the SO SR and provide user-oriented electronic services of high quality. The project includes also some changes at portal and consolidation of all public databases, which were established in different time and at present work separately. The project starts in autumn 2009 with a duration for two years.

Regional database

Within innovations of improvement of user comfort, the regional database RegDat was updated to version of PX Web 2008. Also graphical corrections of the design of database were part of the changes in the regional database. Some new functions were added for users (some mathematical functions, format and styles, operations with tables) and all databases were made available also for persons with disabilities.

Users still have a large interest in data at municipal level. There has been effort to make data at LAU 2 level available for users. In a first step, data on demography and housing construction has been prepared to be added in the regional database.

Publications and other statistical products

In first half of the year 2009 the conception of publishing activities of regional workplaces was prepared. On the basis of the approved document there will be changes in preparation of publications at regional workplaces. Internet will be the main tool for dissemination. The character of printed publications will be changed. Till now printed publications had the form of source of statistical data, with the development of internet on-line public databases are the main data sources. Some publications of central office and regional workplaces were cancelled; some of them are being gradually transformed to products with value added by unified models in term of content, form, design, and printing. The main goal is availability of comprehensive information for all regions in graphically and visually interesting form. In term of electronic dissemination of products, publications in electronic form are available for download at the portal. For reasons of higher transparency, unification and storage at the same time, an Electronic Catalogue of Publications has been developed. http://portal.statistics.sk/showdoc.do?docid=6186

Finland

Regional divisions at municipal level

A major reform of municipal division came into force on 1 January 2009, in which the number of municipalities decreased from 415 to 348. More changes in municipal divisions are expected in the near future. New regional state offices will start operating on 1 January 2010. This will cause changes to regional divisions. All these changes may have an impact on the NUTS classification in Finland.

A project on the development of spatial delimitations has studied the needs to change and review regional divisions in statistics. The project delivered three reports; Recommendations on usage and development of regional divisions based on municipalities in statistics, Recommendations on usage and development of small area divisions in statistics and Recommendations on development of new statistics with the help of GIS. The first mentioned report was published as an official guideline for a harmonised approach to the usage of territorial divisions based on municipalities. The other two reports contained several proposals for improving territorial divisions and small area statistics but these were put aside due to severe budget cuts at Statistics Finland.

Regional accounts

Statistics Finland participates in the Task Force on Methodology on Regional Accounts.

Regional data services on the Web

Statistics Finland continuously adds new regional data to its main statistical StatFin database. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/database/StatFin/databasetree_en.asp

Another free of charge service is the Municipal data portal which contains data by key variables for all municipalities. http://tilastokeskus.fi/tup/kunnat/index.html

In addition, there are several charged services that have been developed jointly with data users, such as

AlueOnline, municipal and regional tables, graphs and maps Altika, regional time series Kasit, urban and regional data SuomisCD, a comprehensive set of local data by postal code area Väestötilastopalvelu, population data by municipal sub-area Grid Database, selected key variables by 250 m x 250 m and 1 km x 1 km grids

A cost/benefit analysis together with proposals for further development of regional data services is under discussion.

ESSnet project GEOSTAT

Together with seven other National Statistical Institutes, Statistics Finland applied for a Multi-Beneficiaries Grant (in October 2009) for presenting census data in a European population grid. Statistics Norway is the coordinator of the action.

Sweden

Visualisation of regional statistics

Linkoping's University has developed a special tool to visualise statistics called eXplorer. Statistics Sweden has in cooperation with Linkoping's University and selected pilot municipalities, Norrköping, Linköping and Karlstad participated in a project to visualise statistics on a regional level.

This tool eXplorer can be used for both internal municipality analyses and to communicate essential statistical data to residents. Visualisation of the statistics offers the viewer a possibility to se trends, cluster and to make benchmark studies and to analyse coordination views. Statistic Sweden plans to offer all of Sweden’s municipalities an opportunity to access this analytical tool to gain better insight into its extensive regional statistics on a detailed local level.

Urban Audit

Statistics Sweden grants application for Urban Audit 2009-2010 has been clarified by Eurostat. We have started with identification of the variables and will soon start to assembly the data required in corporation with the involved cities and other concerned authorities.

New transnational regional statistics

Statistic Sweden has been commissioned by the government to make proposals concerning cross-border regional statistics. This form of statistics is designed to give an accurate description of the situation in the geographical areas where conditions for people and businesses are affected by the neighbouring country.

Transnational regional statistics includes statistics from at least two countries, which are coordinated and adjusted so it is possible to account for at municipal and regional level. It is produced in collaboration between statistical offices from more countries and it is particularly important to include cross-border incidents such as commuting or other movements over the national border. The current mission will focus on describing the labour market situation in border areas, the number of commuters, their home and work municipality and characteristics such as sex, age, education and birth country.

New Website

Statistic Sweden new website is now completed, it has a new modern layout and some new improved features that make it easier to navigate the website. On the new web site there is a special Regional portal for all regional statistics, it is available in both Swedish and English.

Register-based household and dwelling statistics

The work with establishing a new dwelling register continues. When the Dwellings Register has been established, the National Tax Board will conduct registration of the population by dwelling, instead of the current method by real estate. From 2009 to 2010, the Dwellings Register will be created and the National Tax Board will register the population by dwellings. Everything is to be completed before the Eurocensus in 2011.

United Kingdom

Analytical Work Programme

The ONS Centre for Regional and Local Statistics (CRLS) has developed an analytical work programme which focuses on:  increasing our understanding of place looking at the economy, society and the environment  providing analytical guidance to users of local information to exploit data for policy making purposes  development of spatial analytical techniques

Key issues facing local and regional government in 2009/10 are:  promoting economic growth in the regions and monitoring the impact of the recession  Local Economic Assessments  deprivation - a continuing government priority  getting a better understanding of place (including impact of migration and economic well-being)

The current CRLS work programme will meet these needs through:  development of place profiles (Worklessness and Local Economic Assessments)  analysis of the impact of recession  analysis of APS / LFS to increase our understanding of migration at a local level  production of small area income estimates

 regional analysis for Older People - feature article for Regional Trends 42  understanding the components and key drivers of regional economies  measuring the economic benefits of regional strategies/investment programmes

Regional Trends

In June ONS published Regional Trends 41, a comprehensive source of official statistics containing demographic, social, industrial and economic data for the regions of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Children and young people were the subject of this year's lead article in Regional Trends. The 2009 edition also featured an article on women in business and detailed statistical portraits of three regions, as well as articles designed to help researchers measure change over time in small areas and how area classifications can be used to interrogate the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. An on-line version, which provides access to the underlying datasets for the tables, charts and maps, is also available - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/regionaltrends41

The 2010 edition, Regional Trends 42, will be the last in published in paper format, with Regional Trends becoming solely an on-line product in future years.

NeSS Data Exchange

The Neighbourhood Statistics (NeSS) Data Exchange is an online service designed to make it easier for the user to cross-examine and engage with the NeSS Datastore - a database holding all Neighbourhood Statistics. Using machine to machine technology (Interoperability) it will speed up and simplify data requests and still allow access to over 300 geographically referenced datasets, free of charge.

The NeSS Data Exchange works in two ways: ‘Discovery’ and ‘Delivery’. ‘Discovery’ will give ideas on how the user can collect, manipulate and make the most of the data. It provides guidance on Neighbourhood Statistics topics, geographies and time series, showing the full structure of the data. It is like browsing a catalogue to see what is available. Once time has been taken to see what data are available and which areas and time periods are of interest, it is ready for ‘Delivery’.

‘ Delivery’ involves the construction of a query. Once the user knows what they want to take from the Datastore, the code is written which allows machine to machine interaction. All data matching the criteria are then delivered directly to the users system for them to cross-examine, model, store and distribute as required.

The NeSS Data Exchange is designed to make statistical reporting and decision making quicker and easier. Use this service to help populate a website, providing citizens with information about their local area. Develop in-house tools to enable staff to share and use statistics as part of their work. Users can associate data with the NeSS data to create a powerful analytical tool that helps to meet targets. The NeSS Data Exchange will allow the user to do all this and more.

For more information, including a detailed Technical Guide, please visit NeSS Data Exchange: http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=nde.htm Here you can register for this free service by requesting an API key.

Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics

The Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics website has moved to weekly updates, enabling the most recent data to be shown on the website. A new download facility has also been added to enable users to receive updates to

31 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics their data automatically as the site updates. The team is also working on an update to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SMID), to be published on October 29th. This will be as close as possible to a straight update of SIMD 2006 and will identify the small areas within Scotland with the highest concentrations of multiple deprivation.

BoundaryViewer

Neighbourhood Statistics recently launched Boundary Viewer. This new facility, which has been designed to identify, illustrate and view boundaries bordering a selected geographic area, is available by following the 'discover and view boundaries' link from the Neighbourhood Statistics homepage.

Although there is no data behind the functionality, it helps give an easier understanding of the geographies used on the website (e.g. Middle and Lower Layer Super Output Areas) and provides mapped views of Parliamentary Constituencies, Wards, Education Authorities and many other boundaries. A user can search using a postcode or a place name, then select the area level required and view which boundaries affect the chosen area by selecting up to six boundary types from the ‘Display Tab’ options presented.

Boundary Viewer employs the familiar ‘Google Maps’ interface and usability (including zoom, pan and click) to make using the tool as easy as possible. For more details follow ‘Discover and View Boundaries’ at www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk

Change over Time Analysis Viewer

Change over Time Analysis (CoTA) Viewer is a visual tool which assists the analysis of change over time for small areas. The version released this year uses the example of worklessness data for 2006 and 2007 to analyse change for different geographic boundaries in England.

CoTA Viewer supports a Neighbourhood Statistics Strategy published in December 2008 to help users with data issues by visualising some of the methods suggested in the Strategy. This is a prototype version and should encourage comment and feedback for future development.

The analysis shown in the different screens helps those who wish to answer the following questions:

 Has a local authority changed compared to others in the region?  Has there been much change within a local authority? And which LSOAs have experienced significant change?  Is the gap closing between the most disadvantaged LSOAs and the rest? And, is this gap significant?

Measuring Regional Economic Performance

In January this year the National Statistician published an article on measuring regional economic performance.

Improving the understanding of regional economic performance has become increasingly important in the UK. Gross Value Added (GVA) per head is one of the headline indicators used in UK regional policy. The article aims to inform the discussion about the limitations of GVA per head in measuring the productivity of a region and the income of its residents. It proposes a series of indicators which can help to measure regional productivity and income more robustly and inform regional policy more widely. It promotes the use of GVA per hour worked and GVA per filled job as productivity measures and Gross Disposable Household Income

(GDHI) per head as an indicator of the welfare of residents living in a region. The article can be found at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=2103

Regional Short Term Indicators

ONS have proposed the development of Regional Short Term Indicators (RSTIs). The indicators would help to meet the demand for better and current regional data, especially in the current economic climate. In February ONS completed a feasibility report which assessed the viability of developing RSTIs for the nine English regions, based on the methodology already used by ONS to compile the Welsh Short-Term Indicators. The study was carried out in response to expressions of interest from some of the Regional Development Agencies and other regional data users.

It is proposed that a fully integrated set of quarterly regional indicators is produced for all nine English regions and Wales. A total of 67 industries, plus higher aggregates, would be provided by the indicators. The indices would be available approximately four months after the end of each quarter. For most industries ONS would ‘recycle’ data from the ONS monthly turnover surveys to derive regional measures. For other industries alternative regional data, e.g. volume measures, would be used. Where certain industries by region have insufficient data to produce quality estimates, a regional ‘top up’ survey would be undertaken.

Following a workshop held in June, it has been decided to proceed with a pilot version of the RSTIs. The outputs from the pilot, expected late 2009/early 2010, will be a significantly cut down version of the full RSTIs and quality issues will mean that the data will go out with a number of caveats. However, the pilot will provide some valuable new data and will be useful in the development of the full RSTIs. The pilot will also put us in a position to make an informed decision on the long term funding of the RSTIs.

Regional GVA using the Production Approach

The compilation of regional Gross Value Added (GVA) using the production approach will provide a series of regional GVA data that can be deflated. This will permit for the first time the production of a regional GVA time series at constant prices.

First experimental results were obtained in 2008. These use the Annual Business Inquiry 2 (ABI2) as a major source for GVA, turnover, and production data for the majority of industries.

Initial results raised issues of data quality. In particular some industries showed an unexpected bias towards production in the London region. It has not yet proved possible to establish whether such effects are genuine, reflecting the true geographical distribution of a business’s production units, or whether they are artificial effects of regional estimation methodology. It is a crucial data quality parameter for the GVA(P) project that any differences between regions reflected in the final figures are genuine.

The ABI2 is a sample survey that collects data at enterprise level only. A modelling procedure is applied to the returned data to apportion them between the constituent local units; these apportioned values are then weighted to produce the published estimates. The model has been investigated and tested and it has been established that it is robust to amendments. This suggests that the current method makes good use of the available data and that without additional local level data, there seems to be no amendment to the model that would lead to a better apportionment.

For this reason, further development of the regional GVA (P) project awaits the production of first estimates that use local unit turnover data from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) project. This

33 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics new survey, which was piloted in 2008 and is currently being implemented UK-wide, should improve the ABI2 apportionment methodology. It will allow a more accurate apportionment of data to local units based on information returned by the respondents.

It is expected that the new regional estimates, based on an apportionment methodology that uses BRES data, when available, will give insight into the data quality issues that currently affect the experimental GVA(P) data and will lead to their resolution.

Current plans are that an improved experimental GVA(P) data series, based on the 2009 first full BRES collection, will be produced in 2011. In the interim, further exploration of the data quality issues may be possible, informed by the results of the 2008 BRES pilot. This may enable us to publish some initial estimates in 2010.

Preparation for 2011 Census

The next Census will take place in the UK in March 2011. Census Tests in the UK during 2006 and 2007 helped to inform the planning for the 2011 Census. In summary, mail-out of census forms is being adopted as the prime means of form delivery in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the traditional enumerator delivery will be adopted in Scotland. There will be post-back of forms throughout the UK. A question on household income will only be asked in Scotland.

A Census Rehearsal took place in selected areas in Scotland in March this year, and will take place in the rest of the UK in October. The Rehearsal will test, among other things, the questions being asked, the accuracy of the address list for posting out questionnaires and the new internet services for getting help and completing questionnaires online.

General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) are also working closely with Edinburgh Council on a project investigating sharing of data from administrative sources. Edinburgh Council was one of the rehearsal areas for the 2011 Census. Anticipated benefits from the project include helping to ensure better coverage of the Census, helping to identify data sharing or legal barriers, and helping to improve population and migration estimates.

Croatia

Regional data

In 2009 the CBS has started publishing regional data according to Classification of Statistical Regions for the Republic of Croatia adopted in 2007. The first data published for statistical regions at level 2 (NUTS 2 level) were on gross domestic product. This Release presents data on the gross domestic product for the Republic of Croatia, statistical regions at level 2 and counties, in the period from 2000 to 2006, according to economic activities.

The results are available at current prices and per capita.

The data are based on the annual data on the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Republic of Croatia in the period from 2000 to 2005 and on the provisional data on GDP for 2006, which were obtained as the sum of quarterly calculation of GDP data.

The data on the gross domestic product for statistical regions at level 2 and counties in the period from 2000 to 2006 have been revised according to new, improved data sources and calculation methods. The largest impact to corrections of GDP has the estimation of the non-observed economy, while other corrections refer to calculations of imputed rents and financial intermediate services indirectly measured (FISIM) according to the new ESA 95 methodology.

It should be noted that the GDP per capita at the level of statistical regions at level 2 and counties measures production and not the living standard.

Until the end of the year we will work on calculation and delivering to Eurostat GDP data for 2007, investments and number of employees for statistical regions at level 2 (NUTS 2 level) and counties.

Urban Audit

For the first time Croatia is participating in the Urban Audit project as the component of the Multi-Beneficiary PHARE 2005 Programme.

Five cities were selected (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osijek and Slavonski Brod) and sub-city districts and larger Urban zones (LUZ) belonging to them were defined. The first Urban Audit data have been sent to Eurostat on July 31 2008 and an improved version on August 26. Final operational report was sent in September 2008. In January 2009 we received from Eurostat approval of the report. Further work on checking and correcting data, adding missing data from administrative sources and estimating data was done in the three rounds.

Portrait of the Regions

Portrait of the Regions project is also the component of the Multi-Beneficiary PHARE 2005 Programme. We have prepared a lot of texts, tables, diagrams and pictures on regions at NUTS2 and NUTS 3 level and we have prepared a text for the book publication similar as publications published in some other countries. Now we are doing the last checking of the text and very soon we will be ready to publish a book.

Turkey

Regional Indicators Publication

Each Turkstat Regional Offices (26) published their own regional publication this year. Their contents and designs were prepared by the centre in Ankara. New Regional Publications present and compare developments of regions which is one of Classification of Statistical Regional level 2 and its level 3 regions by using indicators. Also the publication covers indicators of other level 2 (26 Regions) and level 3 (81 Provinces) regions. Regional differences have been presented clearly within the publication using graphs. The publication consists of available current data starting 2000. Main subjects in the publications are population, vital statistics, health, education, justice, elections, environment, agriculture, mining, energy, industry, construction, transportation, finance and national account.

Regional Database

The content of the Regional Database is continuously updated and improved. Regional data on different statistical domains is presented in form of dynamic generated tables. The regional database has been enriched with uploading new population statistics based on address registers which were produced according to a new methodology for the year 2008. In the coverage of a project supported by EU, the Regional Database of TurkStat has been developed further. Studies on presenting the changes of disseminated data in table format as time series in regional database with graphics are ongoing.

Urban Audit

After staff structure changed in Central Office in 2005, the number of staff in regional statistics division reduced. The Regional Statistics Team is composed of only 3 people. This affects regional statistical studies especially on Urban Audit.

Metropolitan municipality definition of Turkey has been changed. For this reason, area definition for the UA study needs to be changed.

The next census is envisaged for 2011, which means that for the new collection we are likely to encounter the same difficulties in the supply of certain variables that are collected only at the time of a census.

Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS)

Population Services Law No. 5490, dated April 29, 2006 is the legal base for the Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS). This law charged The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) to establish the ABPRS and Ministry of Interior, General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs for updating and maintaining the system.

First of all, National Address Database (NAD) was developed that covers all addresses within the boundaries of the country. After that the address information of Turkish citizens were matched with the Turkish Republic identification numbers in the MERNIS database and the address information of foreigners living in Turkey were matched with the passport numbers thereby the system was established.

Studies on ABPRS were completed on 31 December 2007 and the first results obtained from the new system were announced on 21 January 2008. And ABPRS 2008 results were announced on 26 January 2009 referring 31 December 2008. In this context, population projections have been revised according to the results of the 2008 ABPRS and results of the 2008 Turkey Population and Health Survey conducted by Hacettepe University. At the same time, retrospective population estimations were produced on the basis of the results of the 2008 ABPRS.

Norway

Statistics Norway has developed grid based statistics, based upon information from different georeferenced registers. National standard grids for statistics have been generated for use at different scale, with cell sizes varying from 100m to 500km. Statistics have been made on population, buildings, enterprises and agriculture, as part of Statistics Norway deliverances to Norge Digitalt (national infrastructure for geographic information, see http://www.efgs.ssb.no/docs/national/norway/Grid-dokument-NOR2008.pdf). Empty grids can be downloaded from http://www.efgs.ssb.no/docs/national/norway/. The documentation of the national standard

36 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics grids for statistics is available in “Statistical grids for Norway Documentation of national grids for analysis and visualisation of spatial data in Norway” (Document 2009/9)

It has furthermore been worked with enhancing and generalising methods for handling confidentiality issues in grid statistics. This work is expected to be finished by autumn 2009.

Statistics Norway is leading partner in a consortium applying for an ESSnet grant on grid statistics and preparations for use of GIS in the 2010/2011 censuses.

Statistics Norway (SN) is upgrading its statistical base registers, the Cadastre and the Population Register in order to improve their quality towards the first Norwegian register based census in 2011. SN are preparing the register based census in 2011 by finding the place of formal residence, and will also try to find usual residence in the census statistics. SN has a long tradition in linking information from administrative sources to enhance the usage and improve the quality of the statistical data. To continue this work, SN is also establishing a Geodatabase to strengthen the work on geographical data. The core of the geodatabase is digital property maps, land cover maps and thematic maps from Norway Digital. One of the main reasons with building a geodatabase is a basic platform for the whole SN, and no local solution. The geodata will be used in the production of statistics, as well as to improve the quality in the existing statistical base registers.

The statistics of land use in urban agglomerations were last published in 2005 and are now being further developed. A new classification of land use categories will be established during the year. More accurate geographical data sources will be used, where items such as buildings, roads and properties are displayed as polygons. Priority among the data sources will be a central task. In the 2005-figures around 1/5 of the urban areas were unclassified. These were areas where national theme data were missing – such as parks, other green areas, parking lots and other open areas. We will attempt to classify these areas by interpreting satellite data.

Switzerland

Urban Audit

The project (Swiss pilot phase) was officially launched in 2006 for Switzerland by FSO and the Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE). A first “pilot” with four participating cities of Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and Bern (capital) was accomplished between August 2006 and April 2008. The data collection and collaboration with the four cities for this phase has been a major task for the Spatial Analysis section throughout the whole year 2007. The collection was finished in January 2008 and all the data was sent to EUROSTAT at this time. Some new data was sent after quality controls in April 2008. This action marked the end of the pilot phase. The final report for the Methodological Handbook of the Swiss Urban Audit was sent to Eurostat on April 2009.

First analyses were conducted and published in our “StatEspace” newsletter in December 2008, including many graphs, tables and thematic maps for Switzerland and Europe. We also published some indicators online. More on our website: http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/international/03/04.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/international/03/04/02.html

After the evaluation of the pilot phase, six more cities (Basel, Winterthur, St. Gall, Lucerne, Lugano and Biel/Bienne) have been included in the Urban Audit in Switzerland. Know 10 Swiss cities participate in the Urban Audit (2009-2011).

Indicators on regional disparities

In 2006 a study, carried out together with an external partner, has been completed to define the 40 most important indicators, including 15 key indicators, which measure regional disparities in Switzerland systematically and allow comprehensive publication for a broad public. These 15 key indicators are divided into 9 statistical themes:

 Economical structure and efficiency  Infrastructure and general supply  Taxes and public households  Education, research and innovation  Working live and unemployment  Demography  Mobility and accessibility  Income, distribution and social security  Building, living and land use

In spring 2009 a minor revision of the indicator set was made and used as base for the 2009 publication (release scheduled for October, 27th 2009) of the set. Several indicators have been added in order to mirror current trends in society and economy. However the restricted availability of high spatial resolution data limits the possibilities.

In 2010 further conceptual work is scheduled. Evaluations will be made whether and how the integration of environmental indicators can be realized. The annual update and publication of a standard set of indicators in pocket format and in the web is envisaged.

The most recent publication can be continuously downloaded in German and French: www.statistik.admin.ch > Regional > Regionale Disparitäten > Indikatoren or the most relevant results in form of a pocket statistics print and via http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/publikationen.html?publicationID=3227

Furthermore the indicator set can be found in the internet via http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/regionen/03/key/00/ind27.html

AGGLOSUISSE – a new approach to agglomerations and metropolitan areas

As mentioned during the last working group meetings, the next Swiss Population Census of 2010 will combine data collections from a system of registers and numerous sample surveys, replacing the traditional census conduct schemes completely. The proposal has been accepted by the Federal Parliament. This decision will have major impacts on the availability of many indicators. Most data will be available more often than in the past, but most data will also show less geographical detail as it comes from sample surveys in the country. Some data will not be available any more at the regional level at all (e.g. information on commuters or languages).

These facts, but also political demands in the context of spatial development plans, FSO’s own analyses on the base of agglomerations or international projects (e.g. Urban Audit) demand a redefinition concept of the Swiss agglomerations and metropolitan areas, which aims to be at the same time more dynamic and internationally

38 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics comparable. After a first assessment, the project for a new definition was launched in 2006, and a first analysis on methods and options was finished in 2007. The study identified the most challenging problems and three possible basic variants of definition good for further proceeding. Currently a further mandate is now (September 2009) just in its final phase. Two variants, in respect of their applicability for Switzerland and including the comparability with other European countries, have been elaborated in detail and analysed by their strengths and weaknesses. Definitions relying on raster have been taken into account.

One major task has been to tackle the problem of numerous fusions of municipalities in Switzerland. An other challenge is to meet the changing data availability, in particular to display functional relations between the core and the fringe of agglomerations.

One of the variants leans on the current “status quo”, while the other variant is based on a new approach. Before a final decision towards one variant can be taken a consultation phase is necessary.

The new definition will most probably lead to the redefinition of other spatial divisions used for the analysis of statistical data, such as typologies of communes and districts. . More information is available at www.statistik.admin.ch > Regional > Statistische Grundlagen > Räumliche Gliederungen > Analyseregionen > Agglomerationen und Metropolitanräume or

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/regionen/11/geo/analyse_regionen/04.html

The Spatial Analysis Section has calculated successfully the Eurostat variable DB100 - degree of urbanization – in line with the construction of EU-SILC-Variables in October 2008. The results gave an interesting input to the project AGGLOSUISSE. However this analysis showed clearly that special conditions in Switzerland like heterogeneous and from case to case very small municipality sizes, along with the swiss topography, should be considered in order to define urban territories.

Historical Directory of Communes and a new digital Commune Masterfile

In June 2007 FSO published a new Flash-based tool (CD-ROM) that allows users to trace all past changes in the territorial structure of the Swiss communes, districts and cantons, going back to changes as late as 1960 (Historisiertes Gemeindeverzeichnis). The tool has now been made available online for free. Thus, the general public can browse through all historical states of communes and find background information on all individual territorial changes over the past 50 years. More information (in German): www.statistik.admin.ch > Infothek > Nomenklaturen > Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis > Historisiertes Gemeinde-verzeichnis or http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/infothek/nomenklaturen/ blank/ blank/gem_liste/02.html

Platform Stat@las – a statistical map and atlas information system for Switzerland and a new platform for collecting and dissemination Uraban Audit data

Based on the positive results and user feedback from our publication of Stat@las Europe, FSO decided in 2006 to develop a new mapping platform, which combines efficient and dynamic geographic data handling in an atlas data base with a high quality user interface and a large variety of cartographic display methods, which visually go beyond most common (web) GIS applications.

The development of this new platform has been completed at the beginning of this year and it was successfully introduced at FSO’s cartographic unit as their new primary tool for the production of our permanent statistical atlas, as well as some derived special thematic atlases and other maps. It is currently being opened to more internal users at FSO (e.g. spatial analysis) and our national partners. Thanks to its hybrid approach, it can

39 New developments concerning regional and urban statistics instantly export atlases (or parts thereof) for a DVD or CD publication. With new and efficient methods of spatial data management, the platform has already substantially improved the collection and analysis of spatial data at FSO, e.g. by implementing a sophisticated recoding tool for transformations of spatial units in time or hierarchy. Due to its modern Web Content Management System in the background, it can integrate more colleagues from other (non-cartographic) sections or map users within the actual production processes of atlases. This will help in replying to a growing demand in mapping products which can not be handled any more only by the small cartographic department of FSO.

The possibilities of this spatial platform have meanwhile attracted other related projects at FSO and inspired some new developments within the platform that will eventually lead towards a full statistical dashboard. Thus, it is currently being supplemented by a reporting tool with which cantonal or other regional reports/portraits can be automatically generated from its database and text objects, tables, charts and maps can be combined to ready-to-print PDF documents. Further steps include the enhancement of its printing functionalities for high quality maps and graphs. Platform Stat@las will be the integral tool for all aspects of the Swiss Urban Audit from 2010 on, i.e. data collection, calculation, analysis, data exports and eventually the dissemination of the results.

Impression of the platform results (output) can be gathered from “Stat@las Wahlen” - an interactive election atlas for the election results of 21 October 2007 (in 3 languages):

DE http://www.wahlatlas2007.bfs.admin.ch/ FR www.atlaselectoral2007.bfs.admin.ch IT www.atlanteelettorale2007.bfs.admin.ch.

Furthermore, FSO has launched its new central statistical atlas in January 2009 on DVD. It will also be published online in September 2009 and then updated continuously over the coming years. In addition, the cartographic unit is currently elaborating the new “Political Atlas of Switzerland” (February 2010) which is going to show all results of federal elections and votes since 1848 in more than 5’000 thematic maps on the level of communes.

Stat@las Europe – an interactive atlas of the European regions

The interactive online atlas was successfully launched on the FSO website in December 2006. This major development of the Spatial Analysis section adds substantially to the analytical potential and visual attractiveness of the international domain on our website. Moreover it contributes to the development of the analysis of international disparities at FSO.

Stat@las Europe shows national and regional (on NUTS 2 level) statistical data for Switzerland and most other European countries. The easy-to-use browser interface allows users to interact with the product in a number of ways. The atlas currently contains about 180 maps relating to 6 theme areas: Population – Society, living conditions – Economy, labour market – Environment – Agriculture – Tourism. It was completely updated in December 2007. Additionally the whole environment part was updated in Mai 2009. The next entire update, including an enlargement of maps and topics (indicators for topics as e.g. politics, mobility and gender equality), and a harmonization in the structure with the statistical atlas of Switzerland and the FSO country portraits, is scheduled for spring 2010. Data will also be integrated into the Statistical Yearbook of Switzerland 2010. The atlas can be viewed here: www.atlasofeurope.bfs.admin.ch.

More information can also be found in the StatEspace 1/2006 newsletter: http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/dienstleistungen/publikationen_statistik/publikationskatalog.html? publicationID=2506