Regional definitions in the European Union: A question of disparities?

This paper explores the concept of regional disparities in the European Union and challenges the present regional classification. The EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) is very heterogeneous in character. Tiny islands, cities, large rural regions and entire countries are considered to be comparable units for analysis. A reformulation of regional boundaries and the comparison to the US case helps to show that regional disparities within the EU are overstated as an artefact of the present regional definitions. The authors' findings show that the EU regional nomenclature should be more coherent if it is to be used as the basis for regional development policies.