Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Regional accounts are a regional specification of the national accounts and therefore based on the same concepts and definitions as national accounts. The main specific regional issues are addressed in chapter 13 of the European System of Accounts (ESA2010).
Regional accounts aim to track regional economic developments through the following regionalized concepts:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in current prices and previous year prices,
Value Added (VA) by economic activity (A10), in current prices and previous year prices (Value Added by economic activity (A17) are available on Insee website but not transmitted to ESTAT),
Household accounts (allocation of primary income account and the secondary distribution of income account), in current prices,
Employment in persons and hours worked by economic activity, and population (not available on Insee website),
Gross Fixed Capital formation (GFCF) by economic activity (A10), in current prices,
Compensation of employees by economic activity (A10), in current prices.
Economic classification: High-level aggregation (A6/A10) of NACE Rev 2.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Regional Accounts are not available for all institutional sectors. There are only regional accounts for the household sector, and transactions are limited to income distribution and redistribution.
Furthermore, Regional GDP and Value Added data are compiled for the entire national economy.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The regional gross domestic product (GDP) is used in order to measure and compare the economic activity of regions. It is the most important indicator for the selection of regions eligible for support under the investment for growth and jobs goal of the EU's regional policy.
All regional data are based on concepts and definition consistent with ESA 2010 (Chapter 13).
Extra-regio data (i.e. value added created in national regions other than on national territory, e.g. in embassies, foreign army bases, offshore energy production, etc.) is treated like any other region; however as there is no population in the extra-regio and consequently GDP per capita for the extra-regio.
National accounts deal with the economy (or large sub-sectors) as a whole. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building block of ESA2010 statistics is the institutional unit, which is defined as an elementary economic decision-making centre characterised by uniformity of behaviour and decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function. This can be, inter alia, a household, a corporation or a government agency. Institutional units producing goods and services are often engaged in a combination of activities at the same time. As regards the regional GDP, the economy is considered as a whole but the regional level is calculated according to the regional breakdown, called NUTS 1, 2 and 3
3.6. Statistical population
National accounts concepts are also used for regional accounts. All statistical concepts and definitions to be used in national accounts are described in Annex A of the ESA2010Regulation.
The national and regional accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs). An institutional unit is resident in a country when it has its centre of predominant economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more), in economic activities on this territory. For regional accounts, there are two types of institutional units can be distinguished: Uni-regional units (the centre of predominant economic interest is in one region) and Multiregional units (the centre of predominant economic interest is in more than one region). In France, many statistics are compiled by employment area or catchment area, which corresponds to the proposed typology.
The population series for the annual national accounts come from the INSEE Demographic balance sheet, which covers the entire geographical area of France. For national accounts, the national population series is a half-sum of two consecutive years to obtain an average annual population (the figures in the Demographic balance sheet are as of January 1).
Local population data are taken from the census and are adjusted so that the total for France matches the population series in the annual national accounts.
3.7. Reference area
Regional data corresponds to the national accounts field, namely metropolitan France, overseas regions (Guadeloupe including Saint-Martin, Martinique, Guyane, Réunion, Mayotte) as well as the extra-regional territory.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Regional GDP and Value Added (VA) data are available since 1990. Other published data, in particular household account data, are available since 2000. They are published as is on Insee website. The ESA 2010 requires data starting in 2000, so the series transmitted to Eurostat begin in 2000 (including GDP and VA series) but the GDP and Value Added (VA) data disaggregated by NUTS1 region are also available on Insee website fr the period from 1990 to 1999.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Depending on the variables, the values are expressed in euro in both current and previous year prices, but also in thousands of people (population and employment) and in thousands of hours worked (employment).
The reference period is the calendar year.
The GDP, total Value Added (VA), and total employment data disaggregated by NUTS2 regions cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 1. The same data, when disaggregated by NUTS3 region and economic activity (A10) cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 2. Please note that the GDP and Value Added data available on Insee website cover the period from 1990 to the current calendar year minus 1, but are only broken down by NUTS1 region.
The household account data cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 2.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Decree N° 46-1432 of 14 June 1946 as amended definies the missions of Insee. In particular, the decree specifies that Insee's mission is to "coordinate the methods, means and statistical work of public bodies and private organisations subsidised or controlled by the State, to centralise their statistical end economic documentation and to unify statistical classification end codes"
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Regional data is published on Insee website and reported only to Eurostat.
Insee disseminates regional accounts data on its website respecting professional independence and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.
Annual. No data, even provisional, is disseminated before the January publication.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Regular data publication is not accompanied by a news release.
Not applicable, as regional accounts only consist of aggregated data.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
In addition to online publication (see section 10.2), information on regional accounts may be posted using social media (see Insee).
10.6. Documentation on methodology
A documentation on the methods is currently being written. It is intended to be distributed after the completion of the benchmark revision in early 2026. Specific guidelines for regional accounts are available from the Manual on regional accounts methods - 2013 edition.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The quality checks carried out by Eurostat on the received country data are described in a validation handbook.
11.1. Quality assurance
The regional accounts estimation chains integrate accounting equality controls, aggregation (on NUTS) controls and consistency controls with national aggregates throughout the production process, in addition to the strict application of the concepts of ESA 2010.
The estimation of regional GDP and value added (VA) includes a validation process conducted by employment and economic situation experts from the network of regional directorates of Insee. This process assesses the activity of industries within the region in order to ensure that the statistics produced are consistent with local economic expertise.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Insee regularly fulfils questionnaires from Eurostat (metadata reports, quality reports) relating to regional accounts. These questionnaires are not published on the national website.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
National accounts data provide key information for economic policy monitoring and decision making, for forecasting, for administrative purposes, for informing the general public about economic developments (directly or indirectly via news agencies), and as input for economic research. At national level, ministries of finance and regional development, scientific and academic communities and economic researchers are usually the entities who most use national and regional accounts data. Regional accounts data are used for cross-region and cross-country comparisons and for analysing structural changes in the economy from a medium-term perspective. Regional economic chronicles are also in high demand at the local level.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
User satisfaction is not measured.
12.3. Completeness
The transmitted data thus cover 100% of the data in the ESA 2010 transmission program. However, the period of data availability is limited in overseas regions because Mayotte became a French department only in March 2011.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy decreases with the finer level of geographical classification used.
On Insee website, data are published in NUTS1 (régions). However, they are transmitted and published by Eurostat in NUTS1 (regions), NUTS2 (former regions before 1st January2016), and NUTS3 (departments) to comply with the legal obligations. Due to limited reliability of NUTS3 level data, the decision was made not to publish them on Insee website.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
The deadline for the transmission of basic data from NSIs to Eurostat is at the moment t + 12 months after the reference year, for NUTS 2 level of data for total Value Added, total employment and population, and t + 24 months after the reference year, for all the other series.
The data are published annually, in January on Insee website.
The sources required to prepare the accounts are collected and compiled on an ongoing basis, starting in the summer. The latest data received and required to prepare all regional accounts are the accounts of the overseas territories, as of September 30.
Since 2025, as part of the benchmark revision, the estimation methodology for the provisional account (current calendar minus 1) has been improved. In particular, it uses a source available earlier in the year, which should allow more data quality checks and ultimately align the publication on Insee website with the transmission to Eurostat.
14.2. Punctuality
The data are transmitted to Eurostat within the legal deadline and published within the following weeks on Insee website.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The comparability is ensured by the application of common concepts and definitions (European System of Accounts ESA2010). Between regions comparability is ensured by the NUTS classification. In addition, regional comparability of metropolitan regions is ensured by a single methodology applied to all NUTS.
15.2. Comparability - over time
For a benchmark revision, all series are revised over the entire period. This ensures series continuity and smooths out any breaks in the series due to justified changes in methodology.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Consistency between regional and national data is ensured by the estimation process itself. Depending on the aggregates:
either the values are estimated by regionalizing the national aggregates, in which case consistency is immediate;
or the regional aggregates are estimated and then adjusted at the end of the process to the national aggregates to ensure consistency.
The consistency between the national totals of the regional accounts and the annual national accounts totals on Insee website is not ensured between the publication of the new campaign of the annual national accounts at the end of May and the publication of the regional accounts for the same campaign the following January; in fact, pending this publication, only the regional accounts of the previous campaign are disseminated, and therefore are not aligned with the annual national accounts for the last three years that have been revised in May.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Regional data are consistent across nested NUTS levels and across nested NACE levels. To ensure this consistency, aggregation checks are implemented during the estimation process.
Regional accounts are based on other statistics, including data from the annual national accounts, but also business statistics, employment statistics and many other statistics from the Official Statistical System (SSP); thus, they do not impose any additional burden on respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Each year as part of the annual production campaigns, only the accounts for the current year minus 1 (provisional accounts), the current year minus 2 (semi-final accounts), the current year minus 3 (semi-final accounts 2) and the current year minus 4 (final accounts) are revised.
In the case of a benchmark revision (approximately every five years), all sources and methods are reviewed and are subject to change. This leads to a re-estimation of the base years, and all series are backcast to maintain historical trends as much as possible. Thus, in the context of a benchmark revision, all series are revised for the entire period.
Insee implements the recommendations included in the Harmonised European Revision Policy (HERP).
17.2. Data revision - practice
All reported errors result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. In this case, a warning explaining the correction and its extent is added to the dataset as well as to the publications concerned.
Changes in methodology may also occur as a result of implementing new EU Regulations. Any such change will be commented at the time of the first data release after the changes.
18.1. Source data
The national aggregates (GDP, gross value added by sector, demographic data, and households account) used to calculate the regional accounts are provided by the National Accounts Department (DCN) of Insee.
The regional accounts are then based on numerous other statistics, including business statistics, employment statistics, population census and various other statistics from the Official Statistical System (SSP), along with tax and administrative data. Regional accounts rarely use survey data, which often do not allow for reliable regionalization.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected annually despite the fact that the frequency of data collection of primary statistics varies according to the nature of the data source. Regional demographic data, like national data, is calculated each year by cumulating the last five census surveys from each municipality (one survey every five years for municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants and a sample of addesses representing 8% of their dwellings in municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants). The information collected in this way is adjusted to a single date for all municipalities in order to ensure fair treatment. This reference date is set at 1 January of the median year of the five-year survey period in order to obtain more robust data.
18.3. Data collection
Most of the data used to estimate regional accounts are produced by other INSEE departments or within the Official Statistical System (SSP). Some data come from public bodies and are often open source.
18.4. Data validation
The source data used to estimate regional accounts are only used once validated by the responsible departments. Checks are integrated into the production chain (particularly for business statistics) to ensure the plausibility of changes in the used variables.
The regional accounts estimation chains incorporate accounting equality, aggregation (on NUTS) and consistency checks with national aggregates throughout the production process.
Finally, during the current campaign, the estimates for the last four accounts are validated by competent representatives of the National accounts department before dissemination.
18.5. Data compilation
Regional accounts are estimated by top-down approach. The current accounting campaign schedule allows all estimated aggregates to be aligned with the national aggregates. For each estimated operation, the amounts from the overseas territories' accounts are considered exogenous (are subtracted from the totals). Finally, each estimated transaction is allocated between metropolitan regions by following the distribution of a known variable that is highly correlated with it.
Value Added (VA) and GDP are regionalized according to localized payrolls, obtained from company payrolls (employment statistics), allocated across establishments in proportion to their VA in the company's VA (via business statistics).
18.6. Adjustment
No adjustment of national accounts data for total economy and institutional sectors is necessary at the end of the process since consistency is ensured in the production process itself.
No comment
Regional accounts are a regional specification of the national accounts and therefore based on the same concepts and definitions as national accounts. The main specific regional issues are addressed in chapter 13 of the European System of Accounts (ESA2010).
Regional accounts aim to track regional economic developments through the following regionalized concepts:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in current prices and previous year prices,
Value Added (VA) by economic activity (A10), in current prices and previous year prices (Value Added by economic activity (A17) are available on Insee website but not transmitted to ESTAT),
Household accounts (allocation of primary income account and the secondary distribution of income account), in current prices,
Employment in persons and hours worked by economic activity, and population (not available on Insee website),
Gross Fixed Capital formation (GFCF) by economic activity (A10), in current prices,
Compensation of employees by economic activity (A10), in current prices.
30 September 2025
The regional gross domestic product (GDP) is used in order to measure and compare the economic activity of regions. It is the most important indicator for the selection of regions eligible for support under the investment for growth and jobs goal of the EU's regional policy.
All regional data are based on concepts and definition consistent with ESA 2010 (Chapter 13).
Extra-regio data (i.e. value added created in national regions other than on national territory, e.g. in embassies, foreign army bases, offshore energy production, etc.) is treated like any other region; however as there is no population in the extra-regio and consequently GDP per capita for the extra-regio.
National accounts deal with the economy (or large sub-sectors) as a whole. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building block of ESA2010 statistics is the institutional unit, which is defined as an elementary economic decision-making centre characterised by uniformity of behaviour and decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function. This can be, inter alia, a household, a corporation or a government agency. Institutional units producing goods and services are often engaged in a combination of activities at the same time. As regards the regional GDP, the economy is considered as a whole but the regional level is calculated according to the regional breakdown, called NUTS 1, 2 and 3
National accounts concepts are also used for regional accounts. All statistical concepts and definitions to be used in national accounts are described in Annex A of the ESA2010Regulation.
The national and regional accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs). An institutional unit is resident in a country when it has its centre of predominant economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more), in economic activities on this territory. For regional accounts, there are two types of institutional units can be distinguished: Uni-regional units (the centre of predominant economic interest is in one region) and Multiregional units (the centre of predominant economic interest is in more than one region). In France, many statistics are compiled by employment area or catchment area, which corresponds to the proposed typology.
The population series for the annual national accounts come from the INSEE Demographic balance sheet, which covers the entire geographical area of France. For national accounts, the national population series is a half-sum of two consecutive years to obtain an average annual population (the figures in the Demographic balance sheet are as of January 1).
Local population data are taken from the census and are adjusted so that the total for France matches the population series in the annual national accounts.
Regional data corresponds to the national accounts field, namely metropolitan France, overseas regions (Guadeloupe including Saint-Martin, Martinique, Guyane, Réunion, Mayotte) as well as the extra-regional territory.
The reference period is the calendar year.
The GDP, total Value Added (VA), and total employment data disaggregated by NUTS2 regions cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 1. The same data, when disaggregated by NUTS3 region and economic activity (A10) cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 2. Please note that the GDP and Value Added data available on Insee website cover the period from 1990 to the current calendar year minus 1, but are only broken down by NUTS1 region.
The household account data cover the period from 2000 to the current calendar year minus 2.
Overall accuracy decreases with the finer level of geographical classification used.
On Insee website, data are published in NUTS1 (régions). However, they are transmitted and published by Eurostat in NUTS1 (regions), NUTS2 (former regions before 1st January2016), and NUTS3 (departments) to comply with the legal obligations. Due to limited reliability of NUTS3 level data, the decision was made not to publish them on Insee website.
Depending on the variables, the values are expressed in euro in both current and previous year prices, but also in thousands of people (population and employment) and in thousands of hours worked (employment).
Regional accounts are estimated by top-down approach. The current accounting campaign schedule allows all estimated aggregates to be aligned with the national aggregates. For each estimated operation, the amounts from the overseas territories' accounts are considered exogenous (are subtracted from the totals). Finally, each estimated transaction is allocated between metropolitan regions by following the distribution of a known variable that is highly correlated with it.
Value Added (VA) and GDP are regionalized according to localized payrolls, obtained from company payrolls (employment statistics), allocated across establishments in proportion to their VA in the company's VA (via business statistics).
The national aggregates (GDP, gross value added by sector, demographic data, and households account) used to calculate the regional accounts are provided by the National Accounts Department (DCN) of Insee.
The regional accounts are then based on numerous other statistics, including business statistics, employment statistics, population census and various other statistics from the Official Statistical System (SSP), along with tax and administrative data. Regional accounts rarely use survey data, which often do not allow for reliable regionalization.
Annual. No data, even provisional, is disseminated before the January publication.
The deadline for the transmission of basic data from NSIs to Eurostat is at the moment t + 12 months after the reference year, for NUTS 2 level of data for total Value Added, total employment and population, and t + 24 months after the reference year, for all the other series.
The data are published annually, in January on Insee website.
The sources required to prepare the accounts are collected and compiled on an ongoing basis, starting in the summer. The latest data received and required to prepare all regional accounts are the accounts of the overseas territories, as of September 30.
Since 2025, as part of the benchmark revision, the estimation methodology for the provisional account (current calendar minus 1) has been improved. In particular, it uses a source available earlier in the year, which should allow more data quality checks and ultimately align the publication on Insee website with the transmission to Eurostat.
The comparability is ensured by the application of common concepts and definitions (European System of Accounts ESA2010). Between regions comparability is ensured by the NUTS classification. In addition, regional comparability of metropolitan regions is ensured by a single methodology applied to all NUTS.
For a benchmark revision, all series are revised over the entire period. This ensures series continuity and smooths out any breaks in the series due to justified changes in methodology.
