EU territorial units

The nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) was created by the European Office for Statistics (Eurostat) in order to create a single and coherent structure of territorial distribution. It has been used in the Community legislation pertaining to the Structural Funds since 1988. The current nomenclature subdivides the 15 countries of the European Union into:

• 78 NUTS level 1 territorial units: the German Länder, regions in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, the areas included in the spatial planning study ZEAT in France, and other large regions.

• 210 NUTS level 2 territorial units: the autonomous regions in Spain, French regions and overseas departments (DOM), the Belgian and Dutch provinces, the Italian regions, the Austrian Länder, the German ‘Regierungsbezirke’ (primary administrative sub-division of a Land) etc.

• 1093 NUTS level 3 territorial units: the Nomoi in Greece, the Maakunnat in Finland, the Län in Sweden, the Kreise in German, the French departments, and the Spanish and Italian provinces etc.

Eligibility for Objective 1 is principally defined with reference to NUTS level 2; Objective 2 areas are generally defined with reference to NUTS level 3.

  Europa website: for accessing the full list of EU NUTS regions, and maps showing locations

This website also contains a coding of Statistical Regions for the candidate countries awaiting accession to the EU, for the other European Economic Area (EEA) countries and for Switzerland.

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