Rural Development in the European Union - Statistical and Economic Information - Report 2010

This report provides, at national and regional levels, statistical and economic information covering the three objectives of Rural Development policy 2007-2013. An overview of the Rural Development budget over the 2007-2013 period is included, together with information on the financial monitoring of RD programmes in the EU-27 and in Candidate Countries.

Consult document RD 2010

Rural development policy seeks to establish a coherent and sustainable framework for the future of Europe's rural areas. Information needs for rural development have evolved alongside policy developments. There is a greater need for presenting the situation in rural areas and its recent evolution. For this reason, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development 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.

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 define three objectives:

1. improving the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry,

2. improving the environment and the countryside,

3. improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of economic activity.

This report contains two types of information:

Statistical and scientific information on the main features of rural areas, defined according to the New Typology of Rural Areas (*)

- Socio-economic situation of rural areas: a list of indicators including among others the economic development, evolution of employment or unemployment the unemployment rate.

- Sectoral economic indicators: economic and structural information on the agricultural, forestry and food industry sectors.

- Environmental situation: a wide range of information on water quality, pesticides, Natura 2000 sites, etc.

-Diversification and quality of life in rural areas: a set of indicators on the situation and development of the non-agricultural sectors, internet coverage, tourism development, migration trends, etc.

Administrative information on the status of the implementation of Rural Development Policy (financial monitoring of the measures).

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 has been here compiled in a structured way and integrated in a single document. When possible and relevant, time series have been elaborated for these indicators.

The overview of the implementation of the rural development policy covers the programming period 2007-2013. It describes the structure of the financial programming and provides the first information in terms of financial execution for EU-27 and by Member State. In addition, there is a general overview on the rural development components of the "Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance" in the three Candidate Countries.

(*) This year, in contrast with the previous editions of this report in which the OECD definition was used, regions have been classified as predominantly rural, intermediate and predominantly urban according to the new definition of rural areas as agreed in 2010. For more information about this typology for rural areas please refer to section 1 of this report or to Eurostat

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-HA-10-001-15/EN/KS-HA-10-001-15-EN.PDF

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Report 2009

Report 2008

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