Background

Quality regional development policy is essential for inclusive economic growth, well-being, environmental sustainability, and resilience. Regions, cities and rural areas play a crucial role in the economic and social mitigation and adaptation to megatrends, including climate change, digitalisation, demographic shifts, and globalisation, which have highly asymmetric impacts within OECD countries. At the same time, regions within OECD countries vary widely in their economic structure, performance, and well-being. Such diversity has important implications for the design and implementation of policies.

What are the benefits of the Recommendation?

The Recommendation on Regional Development Policy, adopted on 8 June 2023 by the OECD Council at Ministerial level, provides countries with a comprehensive policy framework to support the design and implementation of effective regional development policies. It considers that regional development policy is a long-term, cross-sectoral, multi-level policy that aims to improve the contribution of all regions to national performance and reduce inequalities between places and between people.

The Recommendation will be used to review regional development policy frameworks in OECD Member countries, and beyond. An action-oriented toolkit will also be developed in the coming months to support its implementation.

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