Society statistics - Regions (for 'Developer API')

This dataset provides social statistics in regions.

Regions and territorial levels

Regions are subnational units below national boundaries and correspond to administrative divisions defined autonomously by countries according to different criteria. The OECD classifies regions into two regional levels: large regions (territorial level 2 or TL2) and small regions (territorial level 3 or TL3). This classification facilitates greater comparability of geographic units at the same territorial level.

For more information, see the OECD Territorial grid (pdf).

Regional typologies

Regional typologies helps to assess differences in socio-economic trends in regions, both within and across countries. Small (TL3) regions are categorized based on shared characteristics into two types of typology: 

• Typology based on the proximity of regions to functional urban areas of different sizes (FUAs encompass the economic and functional extent of cities based on daily people’s movements). See the methodology (pdf).


• Typology based on urban-rural population: traditionally the OECD has classified small regions as predominantly urban, intermediate, or predominantly rural regions. See the methodology (pdf).

The list of OECD regions and typologies are presented in the OECD Territorial correspondence table (xlsx).

Cite this dataset

OECD Regions, Cities and Local Areas database http://oe.cd/geostats.

Further information

• OECD Regions and Cities Statistical Atlas 


• OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance

For questions and/or comments, please email [email protected].