The report also refers to the relation between GDP, income and employment to define remote regions. Greece leads the list of economically declining countries, in both GDP and income, followed by some regions in the north of Ireland, central and southern Italy and eastern Croatia.

Remote areas make up almost half of the EU territory and serve as home for 37 million people. They are often susceptible to become what the JRC report defines “lonely places”, suffering from insufficient local services, accessibility, or connectivity. The designation captures the position and connection of places from demographic, economic, social and infrastructural points of view. The report spots 1200 localities all over Europe as “lonely places”, where depopulation, bad virtual connections, low variety of services even within towns, or mobility poverty for disadvantaged groups may be present.