Eurostat statistics on regions, cities and rural areas
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Demography
- Access to services
- Health and care
- Education and training
- Transport and mobility
- Digital
- Infrastructure
- Employment
- Tourism and heritage
- Rural-urban linkages
- Research and innovation
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
Eurostat’s Regions and cities portal brings together official EU statistics and resources providing a detailed picture of Europe at subnational and territorial level. It covers regions, cities, degree of urbanisation, metropolitan regions, rural development, and coastal, island and outermost regions.
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Author: Eurostat, European Commission
The portal provides access to databases, interactive visualisations, publications and territorial classifications. Its Regions and Cities Illustrated tool enables users to explore data through different territorial perspectives, including dedicated urban-rural and degree of urbanisation views.
Of particular relevance is the rural development section. Its statistics use the urban-rural typology, which classifies NUTS 3 regions as predominantly rural, intermediate or predominantly urban, based primarily on the share of their population living in rural grid cells. Predominantly rural regions are those where at least 50% of the population lives in rural grid cells. Rural statistics cover areas including demography, labour markets, economic accounts, business demography, transport and intellectual property rights.
The urban-rural perspective enables comparisons between predominantly rural, intermediate and predominantly urban regions, helping users examine territorial differences and trends in areas such as population, employment, economic activity and transport.
The degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA) provides a complementary and more local perspective. It classifies territory into three categories: cities; towns and suburbs; and rural areas. Data using DEGURBA cover areas such as digital economy and society, education, health, labour markets, living conditions and tourism, enabling comparison of socioeconomic conditions between different types of territories.
The urban-rural typology and DEGURBA provide complementary perspectives on rural Europe: one primarily at regional level and the other through a more granular classification of settlements and population.
Why it is useful for rural areas
The portal provides an important evidence base for understanding rural conditions and rural-urban disparities across the EU. Users can examine issues such as demographic change, labour-market conditions, accessibility and economic activity and compare rural areas with other types of territories.
Its particular value is the ability to analyse rural territories through different geographical classifications and across multiple policy areas using harmonised EU statistics. This can support territorial analysis, policy design and monitoring, including evidence needed for rural proofing.
Who is this resource for?
The portal is useful for EU, national, regional and local policymakers; statistical authorities; rural and territorial development practitioners; researchers; rural networks; civil society organisations; and other stakeholders requiring comparable territorial evidence for policy development, monitoring and research.
About the organisation
Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. It provides high-quality statistics and data on Europe in cooperation with national statistical authorities, supporting comparisons between countries and regions and evidence-based EU policymaking.