This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director. It summarises the findings of the project Defining Rural Daily Systems through Service Provision funded by the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
This report was co-ordinated by Claudia Baranzelli, Head of the OECD Laboratory for Geospatial Analysis, under the supervision of Rüdiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Data and Statistics Division. The report was drafted by Alexandre Banquet (CFE/EDS), Claudia Baranzelli (CFE/EDS), Jose Enrique Garcilazo (CFE/RDG) and Bernhard Nöbauer (CFE/EDS), with contributions from Fabio Tejedor Galindo (CFE/EDS), Aleksandra Jaremko (CFE/EDS), Michelle Marshalian (CFE/RDG) and Felix Winkelmayer (CFE/RDG). The report also benefitted from valuable inputs and comments from Karen Maguire (CFE), Ana Moreno Monroy (CFE/EDS), and the delegates to the RDPC and its Working Parties. Lewis Dijkstra (EC – DG JRC) contributed to the conceptual framework. Special thanks go to Chris Jacobs-Crisioni (EC – DG JRC) for his extensive contribution to the delineation of Functional Rural Areas.
Warm thanks go to Martijn Brons and Jorge Durán Laguna (EC - DG REGIO) for their excellent co-operation and continuous support and guidance throughout the project.
The report draws on extensive engagement with stakeholders across levels of government, international organisations and academia. The OECD is particularly grateful to the many experts and practitioners who participated to the workshops of the OECD Expert Group on Functional Areas, conducted between September 2024 and March 2026. Their contributions were instrumental in shaping the report’s analysis. Workshop contributors include: Alessandro Alasia (Statistics Canada), Roland Arbter (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, Austria), Roni Bar (Ministry of Finance - Israel Planning Administration), Olga Barquero (National Statistical Office, Chile), Filipe Batista e Silva (EC- DG JRC), Christa Bauer (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, Austria), Simon Beck (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies – INSEE, France), Jevgēnija Butņicka (Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Latvia), Camila Isabel Caballero Villarroel (National Statistical Office, Chile), Jose Manuel Casado Diaz (University of Alicante, Spain), Sihyun Cha (Government of Korea), Marcela Chrenekova (Slovak Agricultural University, Slovak Republic), Mike Coombes (New Castle University, UK), Mark Cropper (EC - DG AGRI), Alessandra de Renzis (Regione Toscana, Italy), Lewis Dijkstra (EC - DG JRC), Sébastien Durier (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies – INSEE, France), Luisa Franconi (National Statistical Office - ISTAT, Italy), Linda Gaibišela (Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Latvia), Kristína Gendova Ruzsikova (Permanent Delegation of the Slovak Republic to the OECD), Janis Glazkov (Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Latvia), Mahamat Hamit-Haggar (Statistics Canada), Rodrigo Hernan Arriaza Riquel (National Statistical Office, Chile), Hanna Dóra Hólm Másdóttir (Ministry of Infrastructure, Iceland), Michal Hrivnak (Slovak Agricultural University, Slovak Republic), Christian Hundt (Thünen Institute of Rural Economics, Germany), Ryo Ikenoya (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan - MAFF, Japan), Ilze Jureviča (Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Latvia), Ivana Kašparová (Ministry of Regional Development, Czechia), Ryuichi Katsuki (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan - MAFF, Japan), Rupert Kawka (Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning - BBR, Germany), Florian Kohler (Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland), Milan Konrad (Ministry of Regional Development, Czechia), Daisuke Kunii (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries - Policy Research Institute, Japan), Patrick Küpper (Thünen Institute of Rural Economics, Germany), Aivars Lapins (Ministry of Agriculture, Latvia), Jongwoo Lee (Korea Transport Institute - KOTI, Korea), Hyeona Lim (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport - MOLIT, Korea), Sabrina Lucatelli (Riabitare l'Italia, Italy), Ingrid Machold (Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research, Austria), Veronika Madner (EC - DG AGRI), Eyal Maharian (Ministry of Finance - Israel Planning Administration), Karen Malam (Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Australia), Teppei Nakagawa (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan - MAFF, Japan), Georgia O'Cianain (Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Australia), Dominik Opálka (Ministry of Regional Development, Czechia), Jan Cornelius Peters (Thünen Institute of Rural Economics, Germany), Antonio Petrarulo (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy), Raul Rene Ponce Corona (National Statistical Office, Chile), Armands Pužulis (Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics - AREI, Latvia), Michael Ratcliffe (US Census Bureau, USA), Reinhard Reynisson (Icelandic Regional Development Institute, Iceland), Kerstin Roesberger (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany), Alexia Rouby (EC - DG AGRI), Marina Royo De Blas (EC - DG AGRI), Eedi Sepp (Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, Estonia), Petur Skúlason Waldorff (Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Iceland), Daniela Storti (CREA, Italy), Stefan Taxis (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture - BMEL, Germany), Flavia Terribile (Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro - CNEL, Italy), Michele Tucci (EC - DG JRC), Jaroš Václav (Ministry of Interior, Czechia), Gonzalo Valencia Sagrera (Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain), Mart van Damme (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, The Netherlands), Paolo Veneri (Gran Sasso Science Institute - GSSI, Italy), Alba Villamor Aguiano (Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain), Daniel von Siebenthal (Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland), Mitsunori Watanabe (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan - MAFF, Japan), Jan Zerák (Ministry of Regional Development, Czechia).
Finally, thanks are extended to Finbar Pearson and Jiin Lee in the CFE for preparing the report for publication, and to Marzena Kapusta for her support in organising project events.