Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Regional Database contains annual data from 1995 to the most recent available year (generally 2014 for demographic and labour market data, 2013 for regional accounts, innovation and social statistics).   In any analytical study conducted at sub-national levels, the choice of the territorial unit is of prime importance. The territorial grids (TL2 and TL3) used in this database are officially established and relatively stable in all member countries, and are used by many as a framework for implementing regional policies. This classification - which, for European countries, is largely consistent with the Eurostat classification - facilitates greater comparability of regions at the same territorial level. The differences with the Eurostat NUTS classification concern Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands where the NUTS 2 level correspond to the OECD TL3 and Germany where the NUTS1 corresponds to the OECD TL2 and the OECD TL3 corresponds to 97 spatial planning regions (Groups of Kreise). For the United Kingdom the Eurostat NUTS1 corresponds to the OECD TL2. Due to limited data availability, labour market indicators in Canada are presented for a different grid (groups of TL3 regions). Since these breakdowns are not part of the OECD official territorial grids, for the sake of simplicity they are labelled as Non Official Grids (NOG).

The Regional well-being dataset presents eleven dimensions central for well-being at local level and for 395 OECD regions, covering material conditions (income, jobs and housing), quality of life (education, health, environment, safety and access to services) and subjective well-being (social network support and life satisfaction). The set of indicators selected to measure these dimensions is a combination of people's individual attributes and their local conditions, and in most cases, are available over two different years (2000 and 2014). Regions can be easily visualised and compared to other regions through the interactive website [www.oecdregionalwellbeing.org]. The dataset, the website and the publications "Regions at a Glance" and "How’s life in your region?" are outputs designed from the framework for regional and local well-being. The Regional income distribution dataset presents comparable data on sub-national differences in income inequality and poverty for OECD countries. The data by region provide information on income distribution within regions (Gini coefficients and income quintiles), and relative income poverty (with poverty thresholds set in respect of the national population) for 2013. These new data complement international assessments of differences across regions in living conditions by documenting how household income is distributed within regions and how many people are poor relatively to the typical citizen of their country. For analytical purposes, the OECD classifies regions as the first administrative tier of sub-national government, so called Territorial Level 2 or TL2 in the OECD classification. This classification is used by National Statistical Offices to collect information and it represents in many countries the framework for implementing regional policies. Well-being indicators are shown for the 395 TL2 OECD regions, equivalent of the NUTS2 for European countries, with the exception for Estonian where well-being data are presented at a smaller (TL3) level and for the Regional Income dataset, where Greece, Hungary and Poland data are presented at a more aggregated (NUTS1) level.