What makes people stay in a place, and what makes them go? Jobs, housing, access to services, family ties and quality of life all shape where people choose to live. Across OECD countries, these opportunities and pressures are increasingly uneven, with regions and cities facing very different economic, social, demographic and environmental conditions.
OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance 2026 provides new internationally comparable evidence on the forces shaping decisions to stay or go, from the geography of artificial intelligence and knowledge-based activities to housing affordability, population ageing and decline, access to social and community infrastructure, and growing exposure to heat stress.
These trends do not happen in isolation, but shape together whether places can attract and retain people, create opportunity and adapt to future change. The report helps national, regional and local policymakers understand why some places are gaining people and opportunity while others risk being left behind, and what can be done to make more places prosperous, inclusive and resilient.
