Archive:Jahrbuch der Regionen Einleitung

Introduction

Statistics on regions and cities

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, is responsible for collecting and disseminating data at European level, primarily from the 27 Member States of the European Union, but also from the EFTA and candidate countries, at both national and regional levels. The aim of this publication, the Eurostat regional yearbook 2011, is to give a flavour of some of the statistics on regions and cities that Eurostat collects and to present the most recent figures for each statistical subject.

The countries within the European Union are often compared with each other, but in reality it is very difficult to compare a small country like Malta, which has around 400 000 inhabitants, or Luxembourg, which has around 500 000 inhabitants, with Germany, the country which has the biggest population in the EU, more than 80 million inhabitants. Comparing regional data that are as detailed as possible is often more meaningful and it also highlights the disparities — or evenness — within the countries themselves. Most statistics in this publication are based on NUTS 2 regions, but this year we have also introduced some maps based on NUTS 3 regions, the lowest available NUTS level, whenever data for this level are available.

A problem with regional statistics and city statistics is that the volume of data inevitably gets very large (there are as many as 1 303 NUTS 3 regions for the EU-27) and there has to be some kind of sorting principle to make the data comprehensible. Statistical maps are excellent for presenting large amounts of statistical data in a user-friendly way. That is why this year’s Eurostat regional yearbook, like previous editions, contains many thematic maps in which the data are sorted into different statistical classes represented by colour shades on the maps. Some chapters also make use of graphs and tables to present the data, selected and sorted according to principles designed to make the results more apparent.

Europe 2020 is the EU’s new growth strategy for the coming decade and is the successor to the Lisbon strategy. The overall target of Europe 2020 is that Europe should become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy and it sets out a number of specific, measurable statistical targets. The aim is to reach the objectives on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy by the year 2020. The Europe 2020 targets are mentioned explicitly in many of the chapters of this publication and you can study the strategy in more detail on the European Commission website, at: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm

You will also find quick access to the Europe 2020 ‘Headline indicators’ on the Eurostat website at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/europe_2020_indicators/ headline_indicators

Please note that the latest available reference year is not identical across the publication. Each section aims at showing the latest data available, as is frequently the case in statistical publications. In the light of the financial crisis, which had for certain subjects of the publication severe implications in the observed years, it is important to keep in mind the reference year with respect to the overall economic and social events. Table 1 gives an overview of the latest available reference year for each chapter.

Table 1: Overview of the latest available reference for each chapter of the Regional yearbook 2011

Eurostat may have more recent data than shown in the publication. It can be found directly on the Eurostat website. The data codes below all maps, tables and figures in the publication will help you locate the indicator on the Eurostat website.

Core content and news in the 2011 edition

The aim of the publication is to cover as many subjects for which Eurostat collects regional data as possible, and as a result new subjects are constantly introduced. The 2011 edition contains 16 chapters covering a mix of core subjects and new topics. The first chapter on population presents the latest figures on some of the basic demographic indicators, such as population density, population change, fertility rates and life expectancy for both men and women. Four out of eight maps in this chapter present statistics by NUTS 3 regions, which gives an even more detailed picture compared to higher regional levels. It is also worth noting that this chapter has the best coverage of the EFTA and candidate countries. The population chapter is in a way the basis for all other statistical subjects, since they depend on the composition of the population.

The second chapter on the labour market, based on data from the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), examines the regional employment and unemployment patterns with a special focus on female participation in the labour market and on the two most severe forms of unemployment, longterm unemployment and youth unemployment. The next chapter is about labour cost, based on the Labour Cost Survey (LCS), and shows statistics on NUTS 1 regions for indicators like ‘hourly labour costs’ and ‘hours actually worked’.

Education is crucial to the future economic and social success of the European Union and the fourth chapter shows us the state of play regarding enrolment in education and educational attainment in the countries examined here. The next chapter deals with another topic important to each one of us, namely health. Cancer (malignant neoplasm) is on average the second most common cause of death in the European Union and in some countries it is the leading cause of death. The health chapter this year focuses on the death rates for the three most prevalent cancer forms and on the number of hospital discharges of in-patients per 100 000 inhabitants for these types of cancer.

Around 68 % of the European Union’s population lives in an urban area, so this is also a topic close to many of us. The chapter on European cities shows some of the indicators related to the Europe 2020 goals and it also presents two indicators from the Urban Audit perception survey.

The next three chapters are all economy-related, dealing with, namely, gross domestic product, household accounts and structural business statistics. Economy is in a sense also the basis of all other chapters and the basis for realising the political goals set out in the Europe 2020 strategy. The results this year are especially interesting as we are now beginning to see statistical evidence of the financial crisis that hit Europe and the rest of the world at the end of the first decade of 2000.

The chapter on the information society describes the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) among private persons and households in the European regions. The analysis in this chapter concentrates on the development of broadband connections, Internet access and regular use of Internet, etc., during the most recent two-year period, from 2008 to 2010. Tourism is another important economic activity for many regions in Europe, with wide social, cultural and environmental implications. Besides maps for NUTS 2 regions, this edition includes more detailed results on accommodation capacity by NUTS 3 regions. Land cover and land use is a topic new to this publication and we are very proud to have the subject represented for the first time. ‘Land cover’ describes the biophysical coverage of land (e.g. crops, grass, broad-leaved forest or built-up area) whereas ‘land use’ indicates the socioeconomic use of land (e.g. agriculture, forestry, recreation or residential use). Both these aspects are essential for monitoring a wide range of environmental and socioeconomic trends, linked to sustainable use of resources as well as climate change and biodiversity. For the second year in a row, we also have a chapter about coastal regions, defined as regions (on NUTS level 3) having either a coastline or more than half of their population living within 50 km of the sea. This chapter examines the specific conditions in these NUTS 3 regions and their connection to maritime basins.

Transport statistics are crucial for monitoring and — in the longer term — improving regional accessibility. The transport chapter this year focuses on the following topics: road passenger transport (motorisation rate and shares of public transport vehicles) and stocks of road freight vehicles. It also contains four tables on passenger and freight transport ranked by the top 20 air- and seaport regions in Europe.

The next statistical topic, science, technology and innovation is — alongside statistics on education and the information society — a key element for achieving the ambitious goals set out in the Europe 2020 strategy concerning ‘smart growth’, i.e. to develop a European economy based on knowledge and innovation. This chapter presents the most recent figures on research and development (R & D) and human resources in science and technology (HRST) as well as patent statistics, the latter for the first time in this publication, broken down by NUTS 3 regions.

The last chapter in the Eurostat regional yearbook 2011 is a study of trends in densely and thinly populated areas, another subject which is presented here for the first time. This chapter is based on a classification of areas by degree of urbanisation as defined in the Labour Force Survey, but here the definition has been applied to another statistical area, namely the data collection called EU-SILC (EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). Statistics on five crucial social issues are presented: severe material deprivation; at-risk-of-poverty; access to primary healthcare; broadband Internet connection; and perception of problems with crime, violence and vandalism in the close neighbourhood. All these issues are broken down by degree of urbanisation (densely, intermediate or thinly populated areas) in each country and illustrated by a series of interesting graphs. In contrast to the other topics, this chapter only contains one statistical map, which illustrates the degree of urbanisation concept geographically.

Coverage

The Eurostat regional yearbook 2011 contains statistics on the 27 Member States of the European Union and, where available, data are also shown for the EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and the candidate countries (Montenegro, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey). Iceland is, from 27 July 2010, in fact both an EFTA and a candidate country, but here it is sorted under the EFTA countries. Montenegro has been a new candidate country since 17 December 2010.

The NUTS classification

NUTS (the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) is a regional classification for the 27 Member States of the European Union providing a harmonised hierarchy of regions on three geographical levels. The NUTS classification subdivides each Member State into a number of NUTS 1 regions, each of which is in turn subdivided into a number of NUTS 2 regions and so on. If available, administrative structures are used for the different NUTS levels. Where there is no administrative layer for a given level, artificial regions are created by aggregating smaller administrative regions.

The NUTS regulation (Regulation 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council) was adopted in May 2003 and entered into force in July 2003; it has since been amended twice and also supplemented twice with new Member States in 2004 (10 new Member States) and 2008 (two new Member States, Bulgaria and Romania). The second regular amendment (31/2011) was adopted in January 2011 and will enter into force from 1 January 2012.

These are the principles for determining the NUTS regions in the Member States.

Principle 1: The NUTS regulation defines the following minimum and maximum population thresholds for the size of the NUTS regions (See table 2).

Table 2: Minimum and maximum population thresholds for the size of the NUTS regions

Principle 2: NUTS favours administrative divisions (normative criterion). For practical reasons the NUTS classification is based on the administrative divisions applied in the Member States. That generally comprises two main regional levels; the additional third level is created by aggregating administrative units.

Principle 3: NUTS favours general geographical units. General geographical units are normally more suitable for any given indicator than geographical units specific to certain fields of activity. Regions have also been defined and agreed with the EFTA and candidate countries; these regions are called ‘statistical regions’ and follow exactly the same rules as the NUTS regions in the European Union, except that there is no legal base.

It should be noted that some Member States have a relatively small population and are therefore not divided into more than one NUTS 2 region. Thus, for these countries, the NUTS 2 value is identical to the national value. Following the latest revision of the NUTS classification in 2006, this now applies to six Member States: Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta. It also applies to the statistical regions at level 2 in the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein and in the candidate countries Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In each of these cases, the whole country consists of one single level 2 NUTS region or statistical region.

A folding map inside the cover accompanies this publication. It shows all NUTS 2 regions in the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU-27) and the corresponding level 2 statistical regions in the EFTA and candidate countries, and it also has a full list of codes and names of these regions. The map is intended to help readers to locate the name and NUTS code of a specific region on the other statistical maps in the publication. More information on the NUTS classification can be found here: page/portal/nuts_nomenclature/introduction

‘Statistics explained’

All the chapters in the Eurostat regional yearbook have, for the past couple of years, also been included as articles in ‘Statistics explained’, Eurostat’s user-friendly guide to European statistics, which you will find on the Eurostat website. ‘Statistics explained’ is a wiki-based system, with an approach somewhat similar to Wikipedia, which presents statistical topics in an easy-to-understand way. Together, the articles make up an encyclopaedia of European statistics, which is completed by a statistical glossary clarifying the terms used. In addition, numerous links are provided to the latest data and metadata, as well as further information, making ‘Statistics explained’ a portal for regular and occasional users alike.

In May 2011, ‘Statistics explained’ contained more than 1 000 articles and glossary items, and its content is regularly expanded and its user-friendliness increased. From next year (2012) onwards, ‘Statistics explained’ will be used as a tool for producing new content for the Eurostat regional yearbook. This is already the case for another important Eurostat publication, namely Europe in figures — Eurostat yearbook, which is the most comprehensive selection of Eurostat data at national level. This means that the latest text on each topic both for the Eurostat yearbook and for the Eurostat regional yearbook will be available in ‘Statistics explained’ earlier than in the printed versions, and in this way, the most recent results will be made available to our users without the inevitable delays that are part and parcel of making high-quality printed publications. The German and French versions of the two publications will only be available in ‘Statistics explained’ and not as printed publications from this year (2011) onwards.

The increased possibilities for user-friendliness and searchability in the German and French versions offered by ‘Statistics explained’ were considered more important to spend time and effort on, compared to the very limited number of printed copies disseminated in these two languages. ‘Statistics explained’ can be accessed via a link on the right-hand side of the Eurostat website or directly at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained.

Eurostat online data codes

Under each table, figure or map in all Eurostat publications you will find hyperlinks with Eurostat online data codes, allowing easy access to the most recent data on the Eurostat website. The online data codes lead either to a two- or threedimensional table in the TGM (table, graph, map) interface or to an open dataset which contains more dimensions and longer time series in the Data Explorer interface. In the Eurostat regional yearbook, these online data codes are given as part of the source below each table, figure and map.

In the PDF version of this publication, the reader is led directly to the freshest data when clicking on the hyperlinks for Eurostat online data codes. Readers of the printed version can access the freshest data by typing a standardised hyperlink into a web browser, for example:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=data_code;mode=view

where 'data_code' is to be replaced by the online data code in question. The data codes can also be fed into the ‘search’ function of the Eurostat website.

More regional information

In the subject area ‘Regions and cities’ under the heading ‘General and regional statistics’ on the Eurostat website, you will find statistics on both ‘Regions’ and ‘Urban Audit’ (city statistics), containing more dimensions and longer time series than those presented in this publication.

It is also possible to download the Excel files that contain the specific data used to produce the maps and other illustrations for each chapter in this publication. These you will also find on the Eurostat website under the product page of the Eurostat regional yearbook.

The yearly updated Eurostat publication European regional and urban statistics — Reference guide contains a complete listing of the content of the regional and urban databases. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Eurostat website, just like all other Eurostat publications.

We hope that you will find the 2011 edition of the Eurostat regional yearbook both interesting and useful. Any feedback on the content is always welcome.

Regional yearbook table of contents

Eurostat - the statistical office of the European Union