Regions and Cities at a Glance is the OECD’s biennial report providing internationally comparable evidence on how economic, social and environmental outcomes differ across regions and cities, and on the factors shaping these differences. It highlights where progress is being made, where gaps persist and how challenges and opportunities vary depending on where one lives. By looking beyond national averages, the report provides evidence to inform policies that respond to the diverse circumstances of people and places.
Like previous editions, the 2026 report draws on conventional and unconventional data sources to provide new insights into regional and urban trends across OECD countries. It introduces several innovations to respond to pressing policy issues, including new indicators and analysis on AI adoption and exposure to generative AI in regions; social infrastructure in cities and rural areas; housing affordability and stock; the contribution of knowledge-intensive business services to productivity and regional disparities; vulnerability to heat stress in regions, particularly for old-age population; and new analysis at the level of labour market areas, a relevant geography to capture labour market dynamics in the places where people live and work.
A new interactive tool, available through the OECD Local Data Portal, complements the report by allowing users to explore subnational data across OECD countries through maps, charts and key indicators.
The report was produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Director Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, as part of the Programme of Work of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) and its Working Party on Territorial Indicators (WPTI). The final report incorporates comments from RDPC and WPTI delegates based on a draft circulated on 24 September 2026.
The report was co-ordinated and edited by Ana Isabel Moreno Monroy, Head of the Territorial Analysis and Statistics Unit, under the supervision of Rudiger Ahrend, Head of the Economic Analysis, Data and Statistics Division. Claudia Baranzelli, Head of the OECD Laboratory for Geospatial Analysis, supervised Chapter 4. Alexandre Banquet, Jessica Min, and Bernhard Nöbauer drafted the report, with contributions and supervision from Ana Isabel Moreno Monroy (Chapters 1-3) and Claudia Baranzelli (Chapter 4). Eric Gonnard, Josep Espasa Reig and Ellie Poground (CFE) performed data collection and statistical analysis. The publication benefitted from support and contributions by Agustin Basauri, Yavuz Milar, and Tainá Souza Pacheco (previously CFE). Alexandre Banquet prepared the tool to complement the report, under the supervision of Claudia Baranzelli.
The report benefitted from comments by the delegates of the Working Party on Territorial Indicators. Delegates from the Working Party on Environmental Information provided comments on Chapter 4. Comments from OECD colleagues are gratefully acknowledged, in particular Nadim Ahmad, Martha Bloom, Jose Enrique Garcilazo, Yugo Kimura, Alexander Lembcke, Karen Maguire, Anna Rubin, Ekaterina Travkina (CFE), Jessica Mahoney and Lara Fleischer (WISE), and Hyejin Lee (TAD, previously CFE). Jan Rosa and Lukas Kleine-Rueschkamp (CFE), Sebastian Königs and Javier Terrero (ELS) and Simeon Lauterbach and Sarah Kups (GOV) are gratefully acknowledged for sharing data. The report was laid out by Meral Gedik. Finbar Pearson (CFE) managed the publication process.