(14 September 2017) – The 2017 edition of the Eurostat regional yearbook provides a taste of the wide range of regional statistics available for the 276 NUTS level 2 regions (or even 1 342 NUTS level 3 regions for some indicators) of the 28 Member States of the EU as well as in EFTA and candidate countries.
National figures alone cannot reveal the full and sometimes complex picture of what is happening at a more detailed level within the European Union. EU Member States are often compared with each other, but in reality it is very difficult to compare a small country like Malta or Luxembourg with Germany, the most populous EU Member State.
Comparing data at a regional or subnational level is therefore often more meaningful and such an analysis may also highlight potential disparities within countries. As such, subnational data help to increase the understanding of the diversity that exists within Member States and across the EU as a whole.
Currently published in an electronic format and as a set of Statistics Explained articles, the paper version of the Eurostat regional yearbook 2017 will be available mid-October.