Regional, rural and urban development
Our goal is making all regions more equitable, inclusive and resilient. How? By putting well-being and living standards at the core of our place-based approach to policy and economic activity.
NEW PUBLICATION: Regional Industrial Transitions to Climate Neutrality identifies manufacturing activities that are particularly difficult to decarbonise and the transformations they require. It shows how these activities are distributed across European regions, focusing on employment at emission-intensive production locations.
Prior to Russia’s large-scale invasion, Ukraine had made significant progress in implementing ambitious regional development and decentralisation reforms. These reforms resulted in the creation of 1 469 amalgamated municipalities, the establishment of an elaborate multi-level regional development planning framework, as well as a significant increase in local public service delivery, and public funding for regional and local development.
The 2022 synthesis report presents internationally comparable data and analysis for 135 countries and provides insights into ways to strengthen the resilience of subnational public finance. Now in it's third edition, has become the largest international knowledge repository on subnational government structure and finance ever produced.
This G20-OECD Policy Toolkit, developed with input from the Asian Development Bank, aims to support inclusive and quality infrastructure investment by subnational governments across developing, emerging and developed countries.
Approximately two-thirds of countries around the world have increased the power of regions over the last 50 years.This report provides key data on regional governance reforms and their drivers, with a focus on the role of regions in the COVID-19 crisis response.
Migrants account for 14% of key workers like doctors and nurses across European regions. Read more on the contribution of Migrants to Regional development in the new report released today.
Read the new 10 years Water Governance Initiative brochure: This document shares 10 key takeaways from 10 years of WGI work in terms of the why (the drivers behind WGI work), the what (the pillars of WGI work) and the how (what made the WGI a game changer for water governance).
Supporting recovery and resilience in all regions
The OECD's Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) works to build more resilient regions, better equipped to manage uncertainty and future shocks.
OECD Regional Recovery Platform
The health, economic and social impacts of the crisis have been uneven within countries – and recovery from the crisis, so far, has also been uneven. Understanding the spatial dimension and developing territorial and place-based policies is vital to supporting the recovery. (Best viewed in full-screen mode). Find out more
Additional workstreams
Digitalisation & innovation
Innovation diffusion
Broad-based innovation policy
Spatial productivity
Rural innovation
Cities & innovation
Supporting areas of work
Data visualisation tools
Regions and Cities Statistical Atlas
Regional well-being
How's life where you are?
This web tool allows you to measure well-being in your region and compare it with 402 other OECD regions based on nine topics central to the quality of our lives.
Regional disparities - compare your country
Cities in the world
A new perspective on urbanisation
The Cities in the World web tool shows indicators for all cities and metropolitan areas in the world with at least 50 thousand inhabitants.
You can view (and download) the boundaries of metropolitan areas and see indicators on population and built-up areas over time. Choose your city!
