Glossary:Mountain region

Common term: Mountain region, Plural: Mountain regions

Short definition: the mountain typology is applied at the level of NUTS level 3 regions. It identifies mountain regions in the European Union (EU) as NUTS level 3 regions where more than half of the surface is covered by mountain areas, or in which more than half of the population lives in mountain areas.

The mountain typology is a classification based on the following two categories:

• mountain regions;
• non-mountain regions (those regions that are not defined as mountain regions).

Mountain regions may be divided into three different categories, defined as NUTS level 3 regions:

• where more than 50 % of the surface is covered by topographic mountain areas;
• in which more than 50 % of the regional population lives in topographic mountain areas;
• where more than 50 % of the surface is covered by topographic mountain areas and where more than 50 % of the regional population lives in these mountain areas.

Further information

• See Chapter 10 of Eurostat's Territorial typologies manual
• Mountain areas in Europe: analysis of mountain areas in EU Member States, acceding and other European countries
• Geodata for mountain areas; note, these files can only be read when using geographical information system (GIS) software.