What makes a region flourish in today’s Europe? The answer goes far beyond GDP. A thriving region is also a healthy, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable place to live. It has high education levels and hospitals, clean air, gender equality, digital access and crucially, the ability to adapt to change.
The Atlas of Regional Development, the latest output from the PREMIUM_EU project, provides a clearer picture of how Europe’s regions are really doing. Using 37 indicators, the report offers a multidimensional view of regional well-being and reveals what successful regions have in common.
A Broader View of Regional Well-being
Historically, regional development has been defined in economic terms: GDP per capita, unemployment rates, and industrial output. While these remain important, the PREMIUM_EU Atlas takes a more holistic approach. It groups indicators into three main domains, economic, social, and living environment, and calculates an overall development index that blends all three.
This approach paints a more accurate picture of what it’s like to live and work in a region. A place with strong social cohesion, high life satisfaction, and good infrastructure may outperform others, even if its GDP is modest. Likewise, a region with high economic output may still struggle with inequality, pollution, or safety concerns.
By using consistent data from Eurostat, the OECD and national sources, the Atlas offers collective insights to policymakers and researchers wanting to understand where support is most needed and where good ideas are already taking root.
What the Data Reveals: Key Patterns and Insights
One of the clearest conclusions from the Atlas is that development is uneven and often surprising. While some of the highest-scoring regions are predictable economic powerhouses, others shine thanks to their strong social fabric or green infrastructure. Conversely, some economically strong areas rank lower due to weak scores in safety, inclusion, or environmental indicators.
Urban-rural differences remain stark but are not absolute. Some rural regions, particularly in Northern and Western Europe, score highly due to well-managed services and digital infrastructure. Others struggle with outmigration, a lack of innovation, and environmental vulnerabilities.
The landscape of development is therefore not a desert peppered with scattered oases, that are the big cities. There is much more diversity and rural regions which are constantly evolving and adapting, are finding ways to flourish.
Five Regions Showing the Way
To bring the data to life, the Atlas highlights regions that exemplify different aspects of regional success. Their stories offer inspiration—and practical lessons—for others.
- The Netherlands: Leading Through Balance. The Netherlands is often cited for its economic strength. What’s striking is how well it balances this with investment in public services, innovation, education, and inclusion. Its performance shows that long-term development requires more than just industry—it also takes strategic public investment and inclusive growth.
- Western Austria: A Socially Resilient Region Though not among Europe’s wealthiest areas, western Austria stands out for its high scores in life satisfaction, feeling of safety, and gender equality.
- France: Living Environment as a Foundation. Across the France, regions perform exceptionally well in the living environment index. This reflects decades of integrated planning in healthcare, transport, and environmental policy. Even in dense urban areas, clean air, digital access, and proximity to services create a high quality of life. The French example proves that smart spatial policy pays off in long-term resilience.
- Moravia-Silesia, Czechia: Transitioning Towards the Future. This former coal and steel stronghold is undergoing a steady transformation. Supported by EU cohesion funds and local innovation strategies, Moravia-Silesia is shifting its economy, and has some of the lowest unemployment in Europe. The region’s improving economic indicators and relatively high innovation show how targeted investment and partnerships can help once-declining areas pivot toward a more sustainable and wealthier future.
Øresund Region (Skåne-Zealand): Cross-Border Cooperation in Action. Spanning parts of Denmark and Sweden, the Øresund region is a model of what’s possible when governance and planning cross national borders. Here, integrated transport systems, shared digital infrastructure, and coordinated climate action have created a green, digitally advanced corridor. This is one of Europe’s most climate-adapted regions highlighting how cooperation multiplies impact.
Why the Atlas Matters
The Atlas is more than just a data source. Its findings feed into the project’s Policy Dashboard, a practical tool designed to help policymakers find relevant policy suggestions, benchmark their region’s regional development score, and explore migration drivers and projections.
Download the full Atlas of Regional Development to explore the data in details and stay tuned on the policy dashboard we’re building – where the data will come to life in a user-friendly, applicable way.
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