European Infra-Regional Information System

EUROSTAT

SIRE

European infra-regional information system

Description of the SIRE data

August 1998

1.Introduction

EUROSTAT created the "Infra-regional data" module in order to meet the growing demand for local (municipal or equivalent) data inside the Commission.

The objectives of the project are as follows:

To improve the availability, comparability and accessibility of local data in the Member States and regions.

To set up a centralised local database containing a limited number of variables (SIRE: European infra-regional system).

To expand the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) by creating two supplementary levels: NUTS 4 and NUTS 5. NUTS level 5, the most detailed, is made of some 100,000 municipalities (or equivalent levels) of the European Union.

As with any database project, to define and establish the data model and the tools required to update and to consult the database.

To subsequently design a system for managing the NUTS nomenclature over time. Being relatively stable, the first three levels did not require an automated procedure. This does not apply to the lower levels: the number of changes may vary from one country to the other between one and several dozen per year. The goal, therefore, is to collect all the information required for monitoring the nomenclature in order to be able to recreate it at any given observation date (starting from a reference date to be specified).

To exploit population census data[1] and data stemming from Community surveys of the structure of agricultural holdings[2].

To store the flags indicating eligibility to objectives 1, 2, 5B and 6 of the structural funds.

To define, collect and store any other variable that can be used for implementing and evaluating EU regional policies (infrastructures, commuting).

To permit the delimitation of functional areas such as employment areas and urban areas by using a whole number of NUTS 5 level units.

2.Description of the system

2.1.The logical model

Fig. 1.

The NUTS and a set of tables make the core of the system (Fig.1). The main problem in this context is to keep track of the changes over time and to be able to recreate the nomenclature in effect at any specific date. This is essential if we consider that EUROSTAT receives variables with different dates of observation from the different countries.

The NUTS table contains a start and end date for each row. The primary key of the NUTS table is made of the code together with the start date. With this concept, it is possible to keep track of the history of the nomenclature. Two other tables are based on the same principle. The first one keeps the history of the labels; the second one keeps the history of the national codes, which are also changing. A new NUTS 5 code is only assigned if there is a change in the area of the territorial unit. There is no threshold defined, any area change (even a very small one) is taken into consideration. In fact, it is very difficult to define what is a significant change because the impact of the change really depends on the application. That is the reason why EUROSTAT takes all the area changes into account.

The other important element of the system is its capacity for aggregating the data at NUTS level 5 to create functional zones such as urban agglomerations, rural areas, employment zones, etc. There is a table for defining the aggregates and another for identifying their composition.

The other tables contain the following variables:

data from population censuses

data from agricultural censuses (not yet loaded into the system)

The flags indicating eligibility to objectives 1, 2, 5B and 6 of the structural funds. Although eligibility generally relates to wider regions, the information is nevertheless stored at NUTS level 5.

The flags indicating population density zones. The NUTS 5 units have been defined as "densely", "average" and "weakly" populated areas based on an algorithm taking account not only of population density but also of the density of neighbouring areas. Only a Geographic Information System (GIS) allows calculating such an algorithm and adding the spatial dimension. This exercise has been carried out using 1981 and 1991 data. This classification is used in the Community labour force survey.

The tables are fully described at the end of this document.

SIREis linked to the geographical information system of the Commission (GISCO)[3]. The Arc/Info system is directly accessing the tables in the ORACLE RDMS by the means of one of its database access modules.

The NUTS code is the common denominator between GISCO and SIRE.

2.2.The SIRE database

The ORACLE RDBMS based on a UNIX platform holds the tables of the SIRE database. The users can access it via a PowerBuilder client-server application. With this application, it is possible to view, combine and extract the data from the database tables. It generates automatically the SQL code, which is then processed on the server. It is still possible, for complex queries, to program its own SQL procedures. Once it has been extracted from the database, the data can be converted to different file formats like Excel, ASCII, etc.

The management of the SIRE database requires additional and complex procedures to handle the various input formats coming from the Member States.

2.3.The nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)

The NUTS was established by EUROSTAT, to provide a single uniform breakdown of territorial units for the production of regional statistics for the European Union

Although the NUTS has no legal value per se, it has been used since 1988 in the Community legislation (Council Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 for the tasks of the Structural Funds: O.J. L 185 of 15 July 1988).

The territorial units at level 1 of the NUTS are aggregations of a whole number of units at level 2 which are themselves subdivided into a whole number of units at level 3 and so on.

Although the aim is to ensure that territorial units of comparable dimensions are classified at the same level of the NUTS, there are still considerable differences between the territorial entities at every level in terms of area, population, economic weight or administrative competence. The heterogeneity observed at a Community level is frequently no more than a reflection of the heterogeneity existing within the Member States.

The NUTS nomenclature was created and developed according to the following principles:

a. The NUTS favours institutional breakdowns.

Different criteria may be used in subdividing national territory into regions. These are normally split between normative and analytic criteria:

Normative regions are the expression of a political will; their limits are fixed according to the tasks allocated to the territorial communities, according to the sizes of population necessary to carry out these tasks efficiently and economically, according to historical, cultural and other factors;

Analytical (or functional) regions are defined according to analytical requirements; they group together zones using geographical criteria (e.g., altitude or type of soil) or using socio-economic criteria (e.g. homogeneity, complementarity or polarity of regional economies).

For practical reasons of data availability and the implementation of regional policies, the NUTS nomenclature is based primarily on the institutional divisions currently in force in the Member States (normative criteria).

b. The NUTS favours regional units of a general character.

Territorial units specific to certain fields of activity (mining regions, rail traffic regions, farming regions, labour-market regions, etc.) may sometimes be used in certain Member States.

The NUTS excludes specific territorial units and local units in favour of regional units of a general nature.

c. The NUTS is a five-level hierarchical classification (three regional levels and two local levels).

Since this is a hierarchical classification, the NUTS subdivides each Member State into a whole number of NUTS 1 regions, each of which is in turn subdivided into a whole number of NUTS 2 regions and so on.

At the regional level (without taking the communes into account), the administrative structure of the Member States generally comprises two main regional levels ('Länder' and 'Kreise' in Germany, 'régions' and 'départements' in France, 'comunidades autonomas' and 'provincias' in Spain, 'standard regions' and 'counties' in the United Kingdom, 'regioni' and 'provincie' in Italy, etc.).

The grouping together of comparable units at each NUTS level involves establishing, for each Member State, an additional regional level to the two main levels referred to above. This additional level therefore corresponds to a less important or even non-existent administrative structure, and its classification level varies within the first 3 levels of the NUTS, all depending on the Member State: NUTS 1 for France, Italy, Greece, and Spain, NUTS 2 for Germany and the United Kingdom, NUTS 3 for Belgium, etc.

EUROSTAT gives a single Community code to each region or locality. Some of these units, which are not subdivided, appear at more than one level of the NUTS (e.g. the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is not only a country (NUTS 0) but also coded NUTS I, II, and III. The codes assigned in these cases are that of the highest level in the hierarchy. That is why, in certain cases, the number of Community codes assigned is less than the number of national territorial units.

NUTS level 4 is being defined only for the following countries: Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Finland. In 1991, the former NUTS level 5 (1981) for Portugal ('concelhos') became NUTS level 4 and NUTS level 5 is composed of 'freguesias'.

2.4.The Structure of the NUTS Code

The NUTS code is made of 11 alphanumeric positions:

Positions:

1-2Country code (ISO Alpha-2)Old System

BelgiumBER5

DenmarkDKR9

GermanyDER1

GreeceGRRA

SpainESRB

FranceFRR2

IrelandIER8

ItalyITR3

LuxembourgLUR6

NetherlandsNLR4

AustriaATAT

PortugalPTRC

Suomi/FinlandFIFI

SwedenSESE

United KingdomUKR7

The only exception to the ISO code is the United Kingdom for which "UK" (which is more frequently used) has been replaced by "GB".

3NUTS level 1

4NUTS level 2

5NUTS level 3

6-7NUTS level 4

8-10NUTS level 5

11Reserved for future use.

When the NUTS codes are sorted in ascending order, the resulting order is that proposed by the Member States (only true down to NUTS 3 level).

Exceptions:

459 level 5 codes have been assigned to the "shipping wards" defined by the United Kingdom. These units take account of persons residing permanently on boats or barges. The code attributed is the code corresponding to NUTS level 4 + "OOX" (e.g. UK1320500X).

An identical concept exists in the Netherlands but only at the national level. The Community code is NLX ('Centraal persoonsregister').

The last exception is a region of Greece, AGIO OROS, which has a special status, for which the code is GR00001.

3Description of contents

3.1Data availability

81 Census

Remarks on table 1:

Germany

The 1987 data are for Germany before the reunification (03/10/1990).

The 1989 data include East Germany data before the reunification.

Italy

Data on population by age group and employment by NACE sections are only available for municipalities with more than 1000 inhabitants.

The Netherlands

Foreign population is not always available for confidentiality reasons.

Small municipalities are aggregated in groups concerning data on employment and active population.

United Kingdom

Area in ha. is not available for Scotland.

Data by NACE sections only available for Northern Ireland.

Ireland

Area in ha not available.

Greece

Data for the three NACE groups do not concern numbers of employed, but the active population.

Population by age groups and by NACE sections are not available for 4817 municipalities.

Spain

Data on population by age and employment by NACE sections are only available for municipalities with more than 1000 inhabitants.

Austria

Data on employment is not available.

Table I

Countries / DE* / FR / IT / NL / BE / LU / UK / IE / DK / GR / ES / PT / AT / FI / SE
Variables
Nomenclature (1980s)
Full Designation / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 78 / 81 / 86 / 71 / 81* / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Community code / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 78 / 81 / 86 / 71 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
National code / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 78 / 81 / 86 / 71 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Population and area (1980s)
Area in ha. / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 78 / 81* / * / 71 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Foreign pop. / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89* / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Total population / 87+89* / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 81+89 / 81 / 86 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
7 age groups / 87 / 82 / 81* / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81* / 86* / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Males total / 87+89* / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 86 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
7 age groups / 87 / 82 / 81* / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81* / 86* / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Females total / 87+89* / 82 / 81 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 86 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
7 age groups / 87 / 82 / 81* / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81* / 86* / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Active population / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89* / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Act. pop. < 25 / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89* / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 81 / 80 / 81
Numbers in employment. / 87 / 82 / 81 / 89* / 81 / 81 / 81 / 86 / 89 / 81 / 81 / 81 / -* / 80 / 81
Employment: NACE A/B / 87 / 82 / 81* / -- / 81 / 81 / 81* / 86 / 89 / 81* / 81* / 81 / -* / 80 / 81
Employment: NACE C/F / 87 / 82 / 81* / -- / 81 / 81 / 81* / 86 / 89 / 81* / 81* / 81 / -* / 80 / 81
Employment: NACE G/Q / 87 / 82 / 81* / -- / 81 / 81 / 81* / 86 / 89 / 81* / 81* / 81 / -* / 80 / 81

81/81 :data available at EUROSTAT - not loaded/loaded in the SIRE database

X :data will be available at a later date

? :possibly available at a later date

- :will not be available

* :see remarks by country

91 Census

Remarks concerning table II

Germany

Data for Germany after reunification (3/10/1990), including new Länder.

Population by classification of age and sex:

R11, Schleswig-Holstein:

Data is not available for communes less than 200 inhabitants (159 communes are missing).

Also only six classes are available ('65+' instead of '65-79' and '80+')

R19, Bayern:

Data by sex is not available.

The classification of age is different. ('40-64' and '65+')

R1B, Berlin:

The data is not available for the communes.

Nace:

Data is not available for the former East Germany and also for about 690 communes.

The Netherlands

Small municipalities are aggregated in groups concerning data on employment and active population.

Data for the active population less than 25 years old is not available.

Data for the employed per NACE group is not available for groups of less than 2000 employed.

The foreign population is not always available out of confidentiality reasons.

Belgium