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12/09/2005 - The economic well-being of a country is increasingly driven by the prosperity of a small number of regions within it. In some OECD countries, more than 40% of the economic growth is produced by only 10% of its regions. As national politicians and policy makers look for ways to make their countries more prosperous, they are studying, and comparing, economic and social successes and failures at the regional level.
 
The OECD's Regions at a Glance offers these comparisons, across individual countries and across continents. Using charts and maps, the report focuses on three major themes: regions as drivers of national growth, making the best of local assets, and competing on the basis of the social well-being of a region.
 
Economic activity is generally greatest in cities where the population density and education levels are high - 53% of people in OECD countries live in urban regions and those regions claim 64% of the highly educated. This pattern of concentration is self-reinforced by more economic opportunities and wider availability of services stemming from the very process of urbanisation. The report also notes wide variations between have - and have not - regions. On average, 10% of regions created 56% of new jobs in OECD countries from 1996 to 2001, while 10% of regions suffered 70% of job losses during the same period.
 
Regions at a Glance demonstrates clearly that economic and social disparities are often greater within countries than between countries, with people in some regions enjoying a GDP per capita 13 times higher than those in a poorer region in the same country. Using regional benchmarking, the report shows that the main factors explaining high, or low, GDP per capita are productivity, employment opportunities, and skills levels.
 
A region's economic assets are crucial to its ability to compete, but intangible factors such as the time it takes to commute to a job, the proximity of universities and health services, and personal and vehicular safety considerations. In many countries, there is a marked region-to-region difference in all these factors.
 
To receive a copy of OECD Regions at a Glance, journalists should contact the OECD's Media Relations Divison . For further information about this report and the OECD's work on territorial development, please contact Vincenzo Spiezia (+ 33 1 45 24 97 45), head of territorial statistics and indicators.

Subscribers and readers at subscribing institutions can access the online edition via SourceOECD, our online library. Non-subscribers can purchase the PDF e-book and/or paper copy via our Online Bookshop.