Regional Statistics Newsletter

Regional yearbook 2023 edition! The Eurostat regional yearbook, the Statistical Atlas, as well as the Regions in Europe present the deeper and more focused data on EU regions. This edition of regional yearbook focuses on the European Year of Skills, designed to support individuals to get the right skills for quality jobs while helping businesses address skills shortages. Extended chapters on education and the labour market gauge how the different regions are faring.

In 2022, there were approximately 80 million highly-skilled people employed across the EU, accounting for 44.2% of the total number of people employed aged 25–64. The distribution of highly-skilled employed people at regional level varied a lot. 106 out of the 241 reported regions were equal to or above the EU average.

The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector continues to be a significant source of employment, particularly in eastern and southern EU countries. Looking at the NUTS 3 regional data, Romania's Vaslui (61.7%) and Neamţ (51.4%) regions reported the highest employment rates in this sector.

In 2022, 96 out of 240 NUTS2 regions had participation rates equal to or above the EU average of 11.9%. This group included every region of Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden, as well as Estonia, Luxembourg and Malta (all single regions at this level of detail). There was higher participation rates for women in 192 out of 233 NUTS 2 regions

The highest regional employment rate among NUTS 2 regions in 2022 was recorded in the Finnish archipelago of Åland, at 89.7%, followed by the Polish capital region of Warszawski stołeczny (85.4%), the Dutch region of Utrecht (85.1%) and the Swedish capital region of Stockholm (also 85.1%).