Local administrative units (LAU)
LAU are the building blocks of the NUTS (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) and statistical regions, comprising the municipalities and communes of the European Statistical System (ESS). Data are available on an annual basis and also include total resident population figures per LAU where available. For more information on LAU, see the NUTS thematic section.
Access to the datasets is also provided via the GISCO data distribution API, which includes data in different projections, as well as data distribution API.
![Map displaying Local Administrative Units (LAUs) within a region, illustrating geographical divisions and administrative boundaries](/eurostat/documents/7116161/0/lauThumb.png/d48e81f0-eabe-8c42-c1d4-0933cf187f00?t=1619514591589)
Datasets available for download
There are specific download rules for the datasets shown below which must be complied with. Permission to download and use these data is subject to these rules being accepted.
Legend
- SHP = shapefile
- TopoJSON = JSON format for encoding geographic data structures into a shared topology
- GeoJSON = open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes. It is based on the JSON format
- GDB = geographical database, a collection of geographic datasets of various types held in a common file system folder, or a multiuser relational database management system
- SVG = scalable vector graphics