OECD Regional Recovery Platform

• In September 2021, the difference in vaccination rates between the most-vaccinated and least-vaccinated region was 16 people out of 100 on average (across 15 OECD countries). It was more than 20 people out of a hundred in the Czech Republic, United States, Germany and Belgium.
• On average, across OECD countries, the region with the highest excess mortality had about 17 percentage points higher excess mortality than the least affected region within the same country.
• Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, regions close to metropolitan areas had almost twice as many hospital beds per 1 000 inhabitants than remote regions.
• In the second quarter of 2021 regional unemployment was higher than pre-COVID levels in more than 80% of OECD regions (comparing the most recent quarterly data with Q4 2019).
• The share of workers that could potentially work remotely differs, on average,  by 15 percentage points across regions within OECD countries.
• There was a 50 percentage point difference between cities and rural areas in fixed broadband download speeds across 38 OECD countries in Q2 2021.
• In 2020, grants and subsidies to subnational governments from central government  increased in 21 out of 24 OECD countries and expenditure increased in 20 out of 24 countries.
• High-carbon-intensive regions within countries release, on average, 23 times more tons of CO2 than low-carbon-intensive regions within each country.

The OECD Regional Recovery Platform has been developed with the support of the Regional Development Policy Committee, and its Working Parties on Territorial Indicators and Urban and Rural Policies. It also draws on evidence and policies developed in other subnational bodies, such as the OECD’s Local Employment and Economic Development Committee and the Geospatial Lab. With the support of OECD Members, the range of indicators and data will be expanded over time.

The OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities provides comparative statistics, analysis and capacity building for local and national actors to work together to unleash the potential of entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises, promote inclusive and sustainable regions and cities, boost local job creation, and support sound tourism policies.