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The recent Eurostat statistics cover the following main issues: most prospective regions in the EU, regions with the highest proportion of population with completed tertiary education, cities in which poverty is considered a problem by the citizens, and the cities with the worst air quality.

See: Eurostat regional yearbook 2011. In the Eurostat website:  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-HA-11-001.

Also available as a Statistics Explained article: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Eurostat_regional_yearbook.

The Eurostat publication gives an overview of the most recent economic, social and demographic developments in the 271 NUTS level 2 regions of the 27 Member States of the European Union as well as, when available, the regions in the four EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and the four candidate countries (Montenegro, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey). 

Note: The yearbook uses the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2006/EU-27), that entered into force on 1 January 2008.

The EU-27 has 271 regions at NUTS level 2: Belgium (11 regions), Bulgaria (6), the Czech Republic (8), Denmark (5), Germany (39), Ireland (2), Greece (13), Spain (19), France (26), Italy (21), Hungary (7), the Netherlands (12), Austria (9), Poland (16), Portugal (7), Romania (8), Slovenia (2), Slovakia (4), Finland (5), Sweden (8) and the United Kingdom (37). Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta are all considered as single NUTS 2 regions.

EFTA countries: Norway (7 regions) and Switzerland (7). Iceland and Lichtenstein are considered as single level 2 regions.

Candidate countries: Croatia (3 regions) and Turkey (26). Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are considered as a single level 2 region.

For a complete list of the European statistical regions see: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/nuts_nomenclature/introduction

The Eurostat regional yearbook 2011 not only covers NUTS level 2 regions and cities, but also for the first time, in provides much more detailed NUTS level 3 regions for a selection of indicators. The Eurostat regional yearbook contains many thematic maps with a large amount of detailed statistics.

The Eurostat regional yearbook 2011 includes a new chapter on land cover and land use as well as on densely and thinly populated areas. It also contains chapters on population, labour market, labour cost, education, health, cities, gross domestic product, household accounts, structural business statistics, information society, tourism, coastal regions, transport and science, technology & innovation.

Regional diversity

Some examples follow:

- Share of land used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes varies from 2% to 90% in the EU regions

In order to get a picture of the diversity of the EU regions in terms of land use and land cover, Eurostat launched the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) in 2009.

Note: Eurostat collects land cover and land use data through the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS), which was launched in spring/ autumn 2009 simultaneously in 23 EU countries. Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Romania were not covered by the 2009 survey. Field surveyors visited identified points and collected information on the physical cover of the land and its visible socio-economic use for 234 700 points. Each visit was documented by numerous photographs, which form an important part of the LUCAS dataset, especially in terms of landscape description.

One of the indicators measured in this survey is the share of land used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes (built up areas), which averages 9% across the EU. This indicator differs widely across the regions, with the largest shares in Inner-London (89% of the total area) and Outer-London (72%) in the United Kingdom, Bruxelles/Brussels (67%) in Belgium, Bremen (65%) in Germany, Wien (57%) in Austria, West Midlands (56%) in the United Kingdom, Hamburg (53%) and Berlin (51%) in Germany.

The regions with the lowest proportions of their area used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes were Övre Norrland in Sweden and Pohjois-Suomi in Finland (both 2%), Highlands and Islands in the United Kingdom, Mellersta Norrland in Sweden and Thessalia in Greece (all 2.5%), Itä-Suomi in Finland (2.8%), Ipeiros (2.9%) in Greece and Alentejo (3.1%) in Portugal.

See: STAT/11/182, 9 December 2011, Eurostat regional yearbook 2011

Land used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes*, 2009 (% of the total area of the region)

The following are the abbreviations: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

*) Recreational, leisure and sport-related areas are excluded.

**) Greece: Data not available for Ionia Nisia, Voreio Aigaio and Notio Aigaio;

Spain: Data not available for Illes Balears, Canarias, Ceuta and Melilla;

France: Data not available for French overseas departments;

Portugal: Data not available for Açores and Madeira;

Finland: Data not available for Åland.

:) Data not available.

- Tertiary graduates in the EU-27

In 2009, the share of the population aged 25-64 having completed tertiary education was 25% in the EU27. The highest proportions were found in Inner London in the United Kingdom (51%), Brabant Wallon in Belgium (49%), Vlaams-Brabant in Belgium, Hovedstaden in Denmark and País Vasco in Spain (all 44%) and Utrecht in the Netherlands (43%).

Among 25 out the EU-27 regions, where the proportion of those having completed tertiary education was highest, eight were capital city regions.

The lowest proportions were recorded in Açores in Portugal and Severozápad in the Czech Republic (both 8%), Sud-Muntenia (9%) and Sud-Est (10%) in Romania.

Educational attainment level, 2009 (% of the population aged 25-64 having completed tertiary education)

Iceland (IS), Norway (NO), Switzerland (CH), Croatia (HR), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK) and Turkey (TR).

* Data not available for French overseas departments

( ) Data with reduced reliability due to small sample size

Provisional data for Luxembourg, Malta and Sweden

- Proportion of citizens considering poverty as a problem 

The image of a city is not only determined by facts, but also by the perception that residents have of their city. In order to measure these feelings, the Urban Audit perception survey was undertaken in 75 cities in the EU-27, Croatia and Turkey in 2009. All capital cities were included together with up to six further cities in each country based on its population.

One of the indicators measured was on the perception of poverty in the city. In Miskolc in Hungary, 93% of respondents considered poverty to be a problem in their city, followed by Lisboa in Portugal, Budapest in Hungary and Riga in Latvia (all 88%). The lowest proportions of citizens who considered poverty to be a problem in their city were recorded in Aalborg (20%) in Denmark, Oulu (33%) in Finland, Praha (36%) in the Czech Republic and Oviedo (37%) in Spain.

The lowest proportions considering air pollution as a problem found in Rostock in Germany and Groningen in the Netherlands.

Opinions on air quality are also markedly diverse across these cities. The largest shares of respondents agreeing that air pollution is a problem in their city were observed in Athina (96%) in Greece, Budapest in Hungary, Sofia in Bulgaria and Bucureşti in Romania (all 92%). On the other hand, the cities with the smallest shares of respondents perceiving air pollution as a problem were Rostock (17%) in Germany, Groningen (21%) in the Netherlands, Bialystok (23%) in Poland and Newcastle upon Tyne (26%) in the United Kingdom.

Perception of poverty in selected cities, 2009 (% of respondents who strongly or somewhat agreed that poverty is a problem in this city)

Perception of air pollution in selected cities, 2009 (% of respondents who strongly or somewhat agreed that air pollution is a problem in this city)