Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics

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A diagram of the three main divisions of the NUTS system developed by Eurostat NUTS visual diagram.jpg
A diagram of the three main divisions of the NUTS system developed by Eurostat

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS (French : Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques) is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The standard, adopted in 2003, [8] is developed and regulated by the European Union, and thus only covers the EU member states in detail. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics is instrumental in the European Union's Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund delivery mechanisms and for locating the area where goods and services subject to European public procurement legislation are to be delivered.

Contents

For each EU member country, a hierarchy of three NUTS levels is established by Eurostat in agreement with each member state; the subdivisions in some levels do not necessarily correspond to administrative divisions within the country. A NUTS code begins with a two-letter code referencing the country, as abbreviated in the European Union's Interinstitutional Style Guide. [9] The subdivision of the country is then referred to with one number. A second or third subdivision level is referred to with another number each. Each numbering starts with 1, as 0 is used for the upper level. Where the subdivision has more than nine entities, capital letters are used to continue the numbering. Below the three NUTS levels are local administrative units (LAUs). A similar statistical system is defined for the candidate countries and members of the European Free Trade Association, but they are not part of NUTS governed by the regulations.

The current NUTS classification, dated 21 November 2016 and effective from 1 January 2018 (now updated to current members as of 2020), lists 92 regions at NUTS 1, 244 regions at NUTS 2, 1215 regions at NUTS 3 level, and 99,387 local administrative units (LAUs). [10] [11]

National structures

Not all countries have every level of division, depending on their size. For example, Luxembourg and Cyprus only have local administrative units (LAUs); the three NUTS divisions each correspond to the entire country itself.

Member states

Countries NUTS 1 NUTS 2NUTS 3Local administrative units (LAU)
Member State 27922401,16492,054
Austria AT Groups of states3 States 9Groups of districts 35 Municipalities (Gemeinden)2,093
Belgium BE Regions 3 Provinces (+ Brussels)11 Arrondissements (Verviers split into two)44 Municipalities (gemeenten / communes)581
Bulgaria BG Regions 2 Planning regions 6 Oblasts 28 Municipalities (общини, obshtini)265
Croatia HR —1Regions4 Counties (županije) + Zagreb 21 Municipalities (općine)556
Cyprus CY —1—1—1 Municipalities, communities (δήμοι, κοινότητες, dimoi, koinotites)615
Czech Republic CZ —1Statistical areas8 Administrative regions (kraje)14 Municipalities (obce)6,254
Denmark DK —1 Regions (Regioner)5 Provinces (Landsdele)11 Municipalities (kommuner) and 1 unincorporated area 99
Estonia EE —1—1Groups of counties 5 Municipalities (Vald, linn)79
Finland FI Mainland Finland, Åland 2Large areas (Suuralueet / Storområden)5 Regions (Maakunnat / Landskap)19 Municipalities (kunnat / kommuner)309
France FR Regions + DOM 14Former regions (1982–2015) + DOM27 Departments + DOM101 Communes 34,965
Germany DE States (Bundesland)16Inconsistent, some whole States (Bundesland), some Government regions (Regierungsbezirk) (or equivalent, or dissolved)38 Districts (Kreis)400 Municipalities (Gemeinden)10,775
Greece EL [a] Groups of development regions4 Regions 13 Prefectures 51 Municipal districts/Community districts
(δημοτικό διαμέρισμα, κοινότικο διαμέρισμα, demotiko diamerisma, koinotiko diamerisma)		6,133
Hungary HU Statistical large regions (statisztikai nagyrégiók)3 Planning and statistical regions (tervezési-statisztikai régió)8 Counties (vármegye) + Budapest 20 Settlements (települések)3,155
Ireland IE —1 Regions 3 Regional Authority Regions 8 Local electoral areas 166
Italy IT Groups of regions5 Regions (Trentino-Alto Adige split into two)21 Provinces

Metropolitan Cities

107 Municipalities (comuni)7,904
Latvia LV —1—1 Statistical regions 6 Municipalities, state cities (valstspilsētas, novadi)43
Lithuania LT —1Vidurio ir vakarų Lietuvos regionas, Sostinės regionas2 Counties 10 Municipalities (savivaldybės)60
Luxembourg LU —1—1—1 Communes (French : communes, German : Gemeinden, Luxembourgish : Gemengen)102
Malta MT —1—1 Islands 2 Local councils (kunsilli)68
Netherlands NL Groups of provinces4 Provinces 12 COROP regions 40 Municipalities (gemeenten)342
Poland PL Macroregions (Makroregiony)7 Voivodeships + Warsaw metro 17Subregions (Podregiony)73 Municipalities (gminy)2,477
Portugal PT Continent + Azores + Madeira 3 Statistical regions + autonomous regions 7Groups of municipalities 25 Municipalities (concelhos)308
Romania RO Macroregions4 Regions 8 Counties + Bucharest 42 Communes + Municipalities + Cities (comune + municipii + orașe)3,181
Slovakia SK —1Oblasts4 Regions (Kraje)8 Municipalities (obce)2,891
Slovenia SI —1Macroregions2 Statistical regions 12 Municipalities (občine)212
Spain ES Groups of autonomous communities7 17 Autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities 19 Provinces + Islands + Ceuta and Melilla 59 Municipalities (municipios)8,131
Sweden SE Regions (Grupper av riksområden)3 National Areas (Riksområde)8 Counties (Län)21 Municipalities (kommuner)290

Candidate countries

CountryNUTS 1NUTS 2NUTS 3LAU 1LAU 2
Candidate countries 625632692,67177,066
Albania AL —1Regions (non-administrative)3 Counties 12–– Municipalities (komunë) / Communes (bashki / komunë)373
Montenegro ME —1—1 Statistical regions 3 Municipalities (општине, opštine)24Settlements (насеља, naselja)1,256
North Macedonia MK —1—1 Statistical regions 8 Municipalities (општини, opštini)84Settlements (населени места, naseleni mesta)1,776
Serbia RS Groups of regions 2 Regions 5 Districts 29 Municipalities (општине и градови, opštine i gradovi)174Settlements (насељена места, naseljena mesta)6,155
Ukraine UA Macroregions8 Regions 27 Raions 138 Hromadas 1469 Starosta okruhs (старостинські округи, starostynski okruhy) + Settlements (населені пункти, naseleni punkty)29,831
Turkey TR Regions 12Sub-regions26 Provinces (iller)81 Districts (ilçeler)923 Municipalities (belediyeler)37,675

EFTA countries

CountryNUTS 1NUTS 2NUTS 3-LAU
EFTA countries4416481222,567
Switzerland CH —1Regions7 Cantons 26 Municipalities (German : Gemeinden, Einwohnergemeinden and politische Gemeinden; French : communes ; Italian : comuni; Romansh : vischnancas)2,136
Iceland IS —1—1 Capital Region / Rest of country2 Regions (landshlutar)8 Municipalities (sveitarfélag)64
Liechtenstein LI —1—1—1 Municipalities (Gemeinden)11
Norway NO —1Regions7 Counties (Fylke)19Economic regions (Økonomiske regioner)89 Municipalities (kommuner)356

Former EU member state

CountryNUTS 1NUTS 2NUTS 3LAU
United Kingdom UK [b] Regions of England 9Sub-Regions ≍

i: ∪ of counties; or
ii: individual counties; or
iii: ∪ of districts in Greater London. [∪=union]

30 Upper tier authorities and groups of unitary authorities and districts 93 Districts or unitary authorities326
Wales 1Groups of Principal Areas 2Groups of Principal Areas 12 Principal Areas 22
Scotland 1Groups of Council and/or Island Areas4Groups of Council Areas or Islands Areas 23 Council areas, subdivided by LEC where applicable41
Northern Ireland 1—1Groups of districts 5 Districts 11

Maps

Establishment

NUTS regions are generally based on existing national administrative subdivisions. In countries where only one or two regional subdivisions exist, or where the population of existing subdivisions is too small or too large, a second and/or third level is created. This may be on the first level (ex. France, Italy, Greece, and Spain), on the second (ex. Germany) and/or third level (ex. Belgium). [12] In countries with small populations, where the entire country would be placed on the NUTS 2 or even NUTS 3 level (ex. Luxembourg, Cyprus), the regions at levels 1, 2 and 3 are identical to each other (and also to the entire country), but are coded with the appropriate length codes levels 1, 2 and 3.

The NUTS system favors existing administrative units, with one or more assigned to each NUTS level. Specific guidelines are based in population, leaving little or no role for other types of variables such as area, distance, topography, levels of jurisdiction or history, which can only be considered in (unspecified) types of special cases. [13] From the NUTS Regulation, the average population size of the regions in the respective level shall lie within the following thresholds:[ citation needed ]

LevelMinimumMaximum
NUTS 13 million7 million
NUTS 2800,0003 million
NUTS 3150,000800,000

For non-administrative units, deviations from these population marks exist for particular geographical, socio-economic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances, especially for islands and outermost regions.

Examples

See also

Notes

    1. ↑ The European Union uses EL as the country code for Greece instead of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code GR.
    2. ↑ The European Union uses UK as the country code for the United Kingdom instead of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code GB.

    References

    1. ↑ "NUTS – Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics". European Commission. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
    2. ↑ "Common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)". European Commission. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
    3. ↑ "Statistics Explained". European Commission. Archived from the original on 19 February 2010.
    4. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 176/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union
    5. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 1888/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union
    6. ↑ Commission Regulation (EC) No 105/2007 of 1 February 2007 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)
    7. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)
    8. ↑ "History of NUTS – Eurostat". European Commission.
    9. ↑ "Annex A6 Country and territory codes". publications.europa.eu. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
    10. ↑ "Background – Eurostat". European Commission.
    11. ↑ Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 of 21 November 2016 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)
    12. ↑ "Europa – Eurostat – Regions – Basic principles of the NUTS". European Commission. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
    13. ↑ Regions and cities. Overview eurostat. Retrieved 31 December 2022
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