The main source for Europe-wide regional data is EUROSTAT's Regional Database which relies on the NUTS nomenclature to reference regional units across the continent. As boundaries of regional units change over time, the NUTS nomenclature changes over time. A useful introduction appears on the EUROSTAT website. An overview of available data tables on the NUTS3 and NUTS2 level (compiled in June 2022).
Other useful data sources include:
- EUROSTAT NUTS Shapefiles (NUTS-3 2006-2021)
- European NUTS-Level Election Database (EU-NED) (various years, NUTS-3 2016)
- ARDECO Database Various demographic and economic indicators (1980-2022, NUTS-3 2016-2021)
- ESPON 2020 Various demographic and economic indicators (various years, NUTS-3 various)
- ESPON 2006 Various demographic and economic indicators (around 2006, NUTS-3 1999-2003)
- QoG EU Regional Dataset Various demographic and economic indicators, as well as quality of government and corruption risk indicators (1990-2020, NUTS-2 only)
- Rosés-Wolf GDP Database (1900-2015, NUTS-2 only)
- Meteorological Indicators (1989-2018, NUTS-3 2016)
- Facebook's Social Connectedness Index (Oct 2021, NUTS-3 2016-21)
- Public Opinion in the EU Regions (Click on: "Regions and Regional Policy") Surveys with N=300 for each NUTS unit (2012-2021, NUTS 1/2)
- EU Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI) (NUTS-2, 2010-2022)
- OECD Regional Statistics (various years, NUTS-3 various)
Software:
- R package "eurostat": Tools to download data from the Eurostat database together with search and manipulation utilities.
- R package "regions": Validating sub-national statistical typologies, re-coding across standard typologies of sub-national statistics, and making valid aggregate level imputation, re-aggregation, re-weighting and projection down to lower hierarchical levels to create meaningful data panels and time series.