Rural Development in the European Union - Statistical and Economic Information - Report 2007

This report provides, at national and regional levels, statistical and economic information covering the three objectives of Rural Development policy 2007-2013. It also gives a synthesis of the implementation of Rural Development policy for the programming period 2000-2006 both in terms of budget and measures monitoring. An overview of Rural Development budget over 2007-2013 is included, as well as prospects on some selected topics.

Information needs for rural development have evolved alongside policy developments.

For this reason, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development now prepares a specific report aiming to provide, on a regular basis, a comprehensive set of information on rural areas and the implementation of the EU's rural development policy.

Most of the information presented in this report can already be found in various sources and documents (Eurostat databases, European Environmental Agency, DG Agriculture and Rural Development's statistical and financial reports), but it is there compiled in a structured way and integrated in a single document.

This report contains two types of information:

statistical and scientific information on the main features of rural areas,
administrative information on the status of the implementation of Rural Development Policy (physical and financial monitoring of the measures).

In order to ensure the highest relevance of the data to current issues in rural development, priority has been given to the set of common "baseline" indicators which has been proposed in the context of the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) for Rural Development Programmes 2007-2013 that clearly defined three objectives:

improving the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry,
improving the environment and the countryside,
improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of economic activity.

Where possible and relevant, time series have been elaborated for these indicators. Prospects are also presented for a selection of some of them.

The overview of the implementation of the rural development policy covers the programming period 2000-2006. It provides information in terms of measures monitoring on the one hand, and budget monitoring on the other hand, organised by type of instrument. The 2007-2013 programming period and the corresponding financial structure of programming is also briefly introduced.

Published in December 2007

Full text [pdf, 12 MB]

Foreword and table of contents [pdf]

Chapter 1 : Introduction [pdf]

Chapter 2 : Situation [pdf]

Chapter 3 : Statistical description [pdf, 7 MB]

Annexes 3.A to 3.C [pdf]
Annexe 3.D [pdf, 1 MB]
Tables:

List of indicators [xls]
Summary tables [xls, 1.8 MB]
Regional tables [xls, 4 MB]

Chapter 4 : Implementation [pdf]

Tables:

List of tables [xls]
Tables [xls, 1.6 MB]

Report 2008

Report 2006

More information on Rural Development policy

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