Fertility - Regions

This dataset provides regional statistics on births and fertility, in large regions (TL2) and small regions (TL3).

Data definition and source

• Fertility rates: the total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates. It is calculated by totalling the age-specific fertility rates as defined over five-year intervals for women aged 15 to 49.
• Live births are registered at the usual place fo residence of the mother. Crude live birth rate is expressed for 1000 population.
• Child-to-woman ratio is the number of children aged 0 to 4 in over women aged 15 to 49.

Data is collected from Eurostat (reg_dem) for EU countries and via delegates of the OECD Working Party on Territorial Indicators (WPTI), as well as from national statistical offices' websites.

Definition of regions

Regions are subnational units below national boundaries. OECD countries have two regional levels: large regions (territorial level 2 or TL2) and small regions (territorial level 3 or TL3). The OECD regions are presented in the OECD Territorial grid (pdf) and in the OECD Territorial correspondence table (xlsx).

Use of data on small regions

When demographic data are analysed along with economic data using the TL3 level, it is advisable to aggregate data at the metropolitan region level when several TL3 regions are associated to the same metropolitan region. Metropolitan regions combine TL3 regions when 50% or more of the regional population live in a functionnal urban areas above 250 000 inhabitants. This approach corrects the distortions created by commuting, see the list of OECD metropolitan regions (xlsx) and the EU methodology (link).

Territorial typologies

Small TL3 regions are categorized based on shared characteristics into regional typologies. See the demographic indicators aggregated by territorial typology at country level on the access to City typology (link) and by urban-rural typology (link).

Cite this dataset

OECD Regions and Cities databases http://oe.cd/geostats

Further information

• The interactive web-tool OECD Regions and Cities Statistical Atlas
• The report OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance

Contact: RegionStat@oecd.org