European Regional and Urban Statistics Reference Guide
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ISSN 1977-0375 Methodologies and working papers European Regional and Urban Statistics Reference Guide 2008 edition EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROPEAN COMMISSION How to obtain EU publications Our priced publications are available from EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu), where you can place an order with the sales agent of your choice. The Publications Office has a worldwide network of sales agents. You can obtain their contact details by sending a fax to (352) 29 29-42758. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008 ISBN 978-92-79-04768-8 ISSN 1977-0375 Cat. No. KS-RA-07-024-EN-N Theme: General and regional statistics Collection: Methodologies and working papers © European Communities, 2008 EUROSTAT L-2920 Luxembourg — Tel. (352) 43 01-1 — website http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Its mission is to pro- vide the European Union with high-quality statistical information. For that purpose, it gathers and analyses figures from the national statistical offices across Europe and provides comparable and harmonised data for the European Union to use in the defi- nition, implementation and analysis of Community policies. Its statistical products and services are also of great value to Europe’s business community, professional organisations, academics, librarians, NGOs, the media and citizens. Eurostat's publications programme consists of several collections: t News releases provide recent information on the Euro-Indicators and on social, economic, regional, agricultural or environmental topics. t Statistical books are larger A4 publications with statistical data and analysis. t Pocketbooks are free of charge publications aiming to give users a set of basic fig- ures on a specific topic. t Statistics in focus provides updated summaries of the main results of surveys, stud- ies and statistical analysis. t Data in focus present the most recent statistics with methodological notes. t Methodologies and working papers are technical publications for statistical experts working in a particular field. Eurostat publications can be ordered via the EU Bookshop at http://bookshop. europa.eu. All publications are also downloadable free of charge in PDF format from the Eurostat website http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Furthermore, Eurostat’s databases are freely available there, as are tables with the most frequently used and demanded short- and long-term indicators. Eurostat has set up with the members of the ‘European statistical system’ (ESS) a network of user support centres which exist in nearly all Member States as well as in some EFTA countries. Their mission is to provide help and guidance to Internet users of European statistical data. Contact details for this support network can be found on Eurostat Internet site. Introductory remarks European-scale regional and urban statistics are used for a wide range of purposes, e.g. for allocating structural funds in a rational and coherent way and for ex-post assessment of the results of the EU’s Cohesion Policy. For many years, Eurostat has been collecting a wide variety of regional statistics. Over the last few years, urban statistics have become the second pillar of its sub-national data collection. This Reference Guide is designed to serve as a vademecum, explaining the background of European regional and urban statistics, including the regional classification (NUTS). In particular, all recent improvements made in the data collection are explained in detail. The way the data are stored is comprehensively described. Eurostat’s regional and urban statistics are stored in its public database, more specifically in the “Regions” and “Urban Audit” domains of the “General and regional statistics”. Anyone can access the data free of charge via the Internet. This Reference Guide replaces the 2007 edition. It is again available only in PDF format and can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge. Eurostat will continue to produce a new updated version at the beginning of each year. French and German translations of this Guide will — as every year — be available in due course. For any feedback, methodology questions or suggestions for improving this Guide, please send an e-mail to: [email protected]. Regional and Urban Statistics Reference Guide 2008 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS I. REGIONAL DATA — AN OVERVIEW ___________________________ 1 1. REGIONAL BREAKDOWN _______________________________________________ 2 1.1. What is a region? ______________________________________________________________2 1.2. Regions as an administrative concept __________________________________________3 1.3. The NUTS classification ________________________________________________________3 1.4. The underlying principles of NUTS _____________________________________________4 1.5. Applying NUTS to a particular country __________________________________________6 1.6. Revision of the regional classification in 2006 __________________________________8 1.7. Further information on NUTS _________________________________________________ 11 1.8. Regions outside Europe ______________________________________________________ 11 2. THE STATISTICAL COLLECTIONS _________________________________________ 11 2.1. Data flow into Eurostat’s statistical databases _________________________________ 11 2.2. The collections of regional statistics in REGIO _________________________________ 12 2.3. Candidate country and non-European regional data ___________________________ 13 3. LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS _________________________________________ 13 3.1. SIRE - European infra-regional information system ____________________________ 13 3.2. Population and housing censuses ____________________________________________ 14 4. URBAN STATISTICS _________________________________________________ 14 4.1. The starting point ___________________________________________________________ 14 4.2. Urban Audit 2003/2004 data collection ______________________________________ 15 4.3. Urban Audit 2006/2007 data collection ______________________________________ 16 4.4. Perception surveys __________________________________________________________ 17 4.5. Analysis of the results _______________________________________________________ 18 4.6. Further information __________________________________________________________ 18 5. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ________________________________________ 18 5.1. Which version of NUTS? ______________________________________________________ 18 5.2. Which level of NUTS? ________________________________________________________ 18 5.3. How does the introduction of the euro affect tables in national currency? ______ 18 5.4. When are data updated? _____________________________________________________ 19 5.5. Are the data checked for coherence? _________________________________________ 19 5.6. Do you have to look for regional data in other parts of the website? ___________ 19 5.7. Do the tables include data from non-EU countries? ___________________________ 20 6. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES ____________________________________________ 20 6.1. Estimating regional GDP _____________________________________________________ 20 6.2. Regional unemployment rates ________________________________________________ 21 7. OUTLINE OF THE COLLECTION DESCRIPTIONS _______________________________ 24 8. ORGANISATIONAL SET-UP AND CONTACT PERSONS ____________________________ 24 Regional and Urban Statistics Reference Guide 2008 iii 9. REGIONAL STATISTICS PUBLICATIONS _____________________________________ 26 9.1. Portrait of the Regions _______________________________________________________ 26 9.2. The Regional Yearbook ______________________________________________________ 27 9.3. Statistics in Focus ___________________________________________________________ 27 9.4. Classifications _______________________________________________________________ 27 9.5. Urban Audit Handbook ______________________________________________________ 28 10. SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS _________________________________________ 28 II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DATABASE (REGIO) ____________ 30 1. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS ____________________________________________ 30 1.1. General presentation ________________________________________________________ 30 1.2. Eurostat publications and databases __________________________________________ 32 1.3. Data sources ________________________________________________________________ 32 1.4. Legal basis __________________________________________________________________ 32 1.5. Contact person ______________________________________________________________ 33 1.6. List of tables ________________________________________________________________ 33 1.7. Detailed description _________________________________________________________ 34 2. DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS ____________________________________________ 44 2.1. General presentation ________________________________________________________ 44 2.2. Eurostat publications ________________________________________________________ 49 2.3. Data sources ________________________________________________________________ 50 2.4. Legal basis __________________________________________________________________ 50