Foreword
OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance shows how regions and cities are progressing toward stronger economies, better lives for people, and more inclusive societies. The report provides a comparative picture of trends in economic growth, productivity and entrepreneurship across regions and metropolitan areas. It also assesses how people’s well-being is changing across regions, both within and across countries, including progress on closing gender gaps. This edition updates more than 40 region-by-region indicators to measure disparities within countries and their evolution since the turn of the millennium. The report covers all OECD member countries and, where data are available, Brazil, Peru, the Russian Federation, Tunisia and South Africa.
There are several new areas of subnational data in this 2018 edition. The report now includes a chapter entirely focused on metropolitan areas. The title of the publication, which now includes the term “cities”, reflects the increasing interest of readers in this scale of analysis. New indicators of inequality and poverty rates at this metropolitan scale are included. To assess the extent to which migrants are integrated locally, education and labour market outcomes of migrants at the regional scale have been created. Internationally comparable data on the creation and destruction of firms and the associated changes in employment at regional level is another new aspect of this edition.
The report is organised into five chapters plus statistical annexes. Chapter 1 provides an assessment of regional disparities in GDP, productivity and entrepreneurship. Chapter 2 paints a picture of well-being outcomes across OECD regions in a range of dimensions that matter for people. Chapter 3 focuses on demographic changes and integration of migrants in regions and includes sections on gender gaps. Chapter 4 provides an assessment of economic and social conditions in metropolitan areas, while Chapter 5 focuses on trends in investment and expenditure by subnational governments.
OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance 2018 was produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director as part of the Programme of Work of the Regional Development Policy Committee and its Working Party on Territorial Indicators. The report was co-ordinated and edited by Paolo Veneri, Head of the Territorial Analysis and Statistics Unit, under the supervision of Rudiger Ahrend, Head of the Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance Section. Lead authors for each of the chapters were Lukas Kleine-Rueschkamp (Chapter 1 and 4), Eric Gonnard (Chapter 2 and 4), Marcos Diaz-Ramirez (Chapter 3 and 4) and Isabelle Chatry (Chapter 5). Alexandre Banquet and Dimitrios Papaioannou (International Transport Forum) calculated the indicators pertaining to poverty and access to services in metropolitan areas, respectively. Milenko Fadic provided statistical input throughout the whole report. Comments provided by Kate Brooks, Soo-Jin Kim, Alexander Lembcke and Karen Maguire are gratefully acknowledged. Cicely Dupont-Nivore and Pilar Philip are kindly acknowledged for editing and preparing the report for publication. Damian Garnys and Janine Treves provided editorial assistance.