BRUSSELS, October 08, 2014 - The regional yearbook 2014, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, provides an overview of European regional statistics covering a wide range of fields. It thus gives a more detailed picture than national level data and helps in understanding the regional diversity that exists in the EU.

The publication contains statistics for the 272 NUTS level 2 regions and, for some indicators, the 1 315 NUTS level 3 regions of the 28 Member States of the EU as well as, when available, the regions in EFTA and candidate countries. It also provides information to assess the quality of life in European towns and cities. In addition to the regional yearbook, Eurostat offers two interactive applications on its website for visualising and analysing sub-national data: Regional Statistics Illustrated and the Statistical Atlas.

On the occasion of the 12th European week of Regions and Cities and to illustrate the diversity of the regional data presented in the Eurostat regional yearbook 2014, this News Release presents a small selection of indicators from different statistical fields for both regions and cities.

Youngest populations in regions in France and Ireland, oldest in Portugal, Greece and Spain

Due to a wide range of factors, demographic structures within individual Member States show different patterns. In 2013, the NUTS 3 regions in the EU with the highest shares of young persons (aged less than 15) were generally located in those Member States which recorded the highest birth and fertility rates. Among the ten NUTS 3 regions in the EU where young persons accounted for a particularly high share of the total population, four each were in France (Guyane, Réunion, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-d’Oise) and in Ireland (Mid-East, Midland, Border and South-East) and one each in Spain (Melilla) and in the United Kingdom (Blackburn with Darwen).

By contrast, persons aged 65 or more accounted for almost one third of the total population in the region of Pinhal Interior Sul in Portugal. The central Greek region of Evrytania was the only other NUTS 3 region in the EU where elderly persons accounted for more than 30% of the total population, and was one of four Greek regions (along with Grevena, Arta and Serres) among the ten regions in the EU with the highest shares of elderly persons in their respective populations. The other regions with the highest shares of people aged 65 or above were in Spain (Ourense, Zamora and Lugo), Germany (Dessau-Roßlau / Kreisfreie Stadt) and Italy (Savona).

For the EU28 as a whole in 2013, younger persons accounted for 15.6% of the total population, elderly persons for 18.2%.

The Canary Islands in Spain were the most popular tourist EU region in 2013

The Spanish island region of the Canarias (89.8 million nights) had the highest number of overnight stays among the NUTS 2 regions in the EU in 2013, while two further Spanish regions also featured among the top five destinations: Cataluña (70.5 million nights) and the Illes Balears (65.3 million nights). The French capital region of Île-de-France (77.5 million nights) and the Croatian region of Jadranska Hrvatska (61.8 million nights) completed the top five destinations.

Top 20 EU tourist regions by NUTS 2 regions, 2013 (million nights spent by residents and non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments)

Among the top 20 tourist regions in 2013 in terms of overnight stays, six were located in Italy (Veneto, Toscana, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Lazio and Provincia autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen), five each in Spain (Canarias, Cataluña, Illes Balears, Andalucía and Communidad Valenciana) and France (Île-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Languedoc-Roussillon and Aquitaine) and one each in Croatia (Jadranska Hrvatska), the United Kingdom (Inner London), Austria (Tirol) and Germany (Oberbayern).

Highest proportions of non-national inhabitants in Luxembourg and Brussels

Among the 25 capital cities in the EU28 for which data is available, foreign citizens accounted for at least 20% of the inhabitants in seven capital cities, with the highest shares in Luxembourg (63.8%), Brussels (33.8%) and Riga6 (26.0%). In contrast, foreign citizens represented less than 5% of the total population in six EU capital cities: Warsaw (0.6%), Sofia (1.0%), Vilnius (1.4%), Bratislava (3.1%), Budapest (3.3%) and Valletta (4.1%).

Riga6 (25.5%), Tallinn6 (20.2%), Athens (14.0%), Brussels (13.5%), Madrid (11.6%), Dublin, Paris and London (all 10.4%) and Berlin (10.1%) were the EU capital cities that recorded the highest shares of non EU-citizens in their total populations.

Indicators relating to the demographics of EU cities are just a few examples of the wide range of data that are available at city level within Eurostat. They enable comparisons of a range of socioeconomic aspects that relate to the quality of urban life in European cities. The data cover more than 900 cities across the EU Member States, EFTA and candidate countries.

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Eurostat regional yearbook 2014. Paper version free of charge, PDF-version and underlying data available on the Eurostat website: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/publications/regional_yearbook. 

Also available as a Statistics Explained article: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Eurostat_regional_yearbook.

The regional yearbook 2014 includes eleven thematic chapters on population, health, education, the labour market, economy, structural business statistics, research and innovation, the information society, tourism, transport and agriculture as well as four special focus chapters on the environment, land cover and land use, European cities and regional competitiveness.

Data in this News Release may differ from that in the regional yearbook, due to updates made after the extractions used for the publication.

The yearbook uses the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2010) that entered into force on 1 January 2012: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/nuts_nomenclature/introduction

As of 1 July 2013, the EU28 has 272 regions at NUTS level 2: Belgium (11), Bulgaria (6), the Czech Republic (8), Denmark (5), Germany (38), Ireland (2), Greece (13), Spain (19), France (26), Croatia (2), Italy (21), Hungary (7), the Netherlands (12), Austria (9), Poland (16), Portugal (7), Romania (8), Slovenia (2), Slovakia (4), Finland (5), Sweden (8) and the United Kingdom (37). Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta are all considered as single NUTS 2 regions.

EFTA countries: Norway (7) and Switzerland (7). Iceland and Liechtenstein are considered as single level 2 regions.

Candidate countries: Albania (3) and Turkey (26), Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are considered as single level 2 regions.

As of 1 July 2013, the EU28 has 1 315 regions at NUTS level 3: Belgium (44), Bulgaria (28), the Czech Republic (14), Denmark (11), Germany (412), Estonia (5), Ireland (8), Greece (51), Spain (59), France (100), Croatia (21), Italy (110), Latvia (6), Lithuania (10), Hungary (20), Malta (2), the Netherlands (40), Austria (35), Poland (66), Portugal (30), Romania (42), Slovenia (12), Slovakia (8), Finland (19), Sweden (21) and the United Kingdom (139). Cyprus and Luxembourg are considered as single NUTS 3 regions.

EFTA countries: Iceland (2), Norway (19) and Switzerland (26). Liechtenstein is considered as a single level 3 region.

Candidate countries: Albania (12), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (8) and Turkey (81). Montenegro is considered as a single level 3 region.

Codes used in tables are: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Croatia (HR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

Iceland (IS), Liechtenstein (LI), Norway (NO), Switzerland (CH), Montenegro (ME), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK) and Turkey (TR). MK: provisional code that does not affect the definitive denomination of the country to be attributed after the conclusion of the negotiations currently taking place in the United Nations.

Statistical Atlas: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistical-atlas/gis/viewer/  

Regional Statistics Illustrated: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/RSI/ 

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance. For more information on the 2014 events, see: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/od2014/index.cfm 

In the case of Tallinn and Riga, the proportion of non-EU foreign citizens is particularly large due to the high number of ‘recognised non-citizens’, mainly former Soviet Union citizens, who are permanently resident in these countries but have not acquired Estonian/Latvian citizenship or any other citizenship.

For more info: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

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Written by Magda C.Butucea

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