Revealed: the historic pattern of EU investments in your region

1. Introduction

The Commission has brought together the history of EU budget payment data from multiple programme periods and multiple funds, and regionalised it annually (1988-2022) to the NUTS2 level. Data on EU payments of over EUR 1 180 billion are available in this data set  for the open use of researchers. 
We first published a data set with the comprehensive historic record of EU budget payments from the European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund to the Member States and NUTS-2 regions in 2018. That year marked the 30th anniversary of delivering EU regional policy using a programming approach based on "shared management".  The 1988 reform saw an important shift from project-based financing to programming with a stronger role for national and regional authorities. Since 1988, there have been important advances in the construction of the European Union. Under the four multi-annual EU budget cycles (programming periods), the scope and scale of EU funding dedicated to addressing economic, social and territorial disparities has also evolved.
In January 2024 the previous data set (archived here) was updated with the following main changes:
  • The EU payment data for the 2007-2013 period were supplemented with the addition of full payment history up to end-2022; 
  • The complete EU payments for the period 2014-2020, for all ESI Funds, were added for the years 2019-2022. 

2. What questions does the EU payment data answer and how can it be used?

First and foremost, the data provides the answer to that deceptively difficult question: “How much has my region/country received under regional policy?”  That question is difficult because many programmes are in fact national, not regional, and because there are multiple EU funds. The answer is now available thanks to the harmonised presentation of annualised EU payments made mapped to NUTS-2 regions from 1988 until 2022.
In the chart below you can filter by country to see EU payments made by region over the different planning periods.  Andalucía, Spain is calculated as the largest beneficiary over many programme periods in terms of absolute volume of EU payments made. 
It should be borne in mind that EU payments to national programmes have been allocated using pro rata rules based on NUTS2 populations and information on aid intensities ("categories of region"), when available.  Such calculation are estimations and not statements of the precise EUR volume invested in specific regions.
TIPS: Floating the cursor over the chart you can see the absolute values by programme period; Use the filters to explore; click "view source data" for full screen and the to link to the underlying data. To see other regions, place the cursor to the right of the bars and click and drag the chart upwards. 

3. Looking at the overall volume of investment over time

An annual analysis of the data also demonstrates the overlap between programme periods. As one programme closes another one begins with some overlap.

Earlier programme periods tended to take many years to close.  These delays have become shorter with the application of the spending discipline rules called "N+2" or  "N+3". 
In the chart below you can use filters (top right) to look at the payment patterns by fund and country. 
The interactive summary table below allows users to identify the total EU payments contained in the historic EU payments dataset by Country / Period / Fund. The table can be filtered or downloaded using the buttons on the top right of the table. 

4. A unique feature: modelling the EU payments to estimate the underlying expenditure in regional economies

Over the budget periods, EU payments made were predominantly in reimbursement of expenditure actually incurred. In other words the EU payments were made after the actual expenditure.  Using the date of EU payments may distort economic analysis of the effect to the investments.  The Commission therefore commissioned a treatment of the EU payments to make a best estimate of when the actual expenditure took place by year. The comparison of EU payments and modelled real expenditure can be compared below. Real payments typically take place earlier and end earlier than the EU payments.

5. Which EU funds and funding periods are covered?

The total sum of all funding present in the data set over the 35 years is over EUR 1 180 billion (1.18 trillion).   
The data set is a comprehensive record of EU payments made from the ERDF to Member States from 1988 until 2022. 
In addition to the ERDF, you also find data on the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD, previously EAGGF) across multiple periods.  
For the period 2014-2020 all ESI Funds are included, involving the inclusion of  the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD).  
The 2 tables below show the volume of EU payments per fund and programme period (left) and the overall volume of EU payment per fund (right).  In summary the scope and structure of the data is as follows:
  • Under the ERDF, EU payments to Interreg programmes are not included in the regionalisation;  
  • The Cohesion Fund was only created in 1993;
  • For the EU-14 countries that joined in 2004 and 2007 the EU payments made under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) are presented under the Cohesion Fund; 
  • Before 2007 the EAFRD was previously the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF);
  • For ESF and EMFF the full payment history was not available for all periods.

6. A word on the data: how was it compiled?

There were three steps:
  1. The annual EU payment history by programme was extracted from the Commission’s accounting system. (The annualised EU payment record by programme for the periods 1988-2013 are in this data set.
  2. The interim and final payments to programmes were then regionalised using the best information available from the programmes and estimating the regional distribution (using population size) where NUTS2 information were not available.
  3. The regionalised EU payments were further treated, using modelling techniques, to develop an estimate of when the actual expenditure took place that led to the EU payments.
Details of the methodologies used for the regionalisation and modelling of real expenditure are provided in the reports linked below under "Find out more".
NUTS versions 2013  
Across the 35 years that these EU payments were made multiple version of the NUTS system were applied (Nomenclature des unités térritoriales statistique - nomenclature of statistical territorial units).  For the purpose of generating this data the 2013 version of the NUTS codes is used predominantly and applied to the payment made to programmes across all periods.
The exception to the rule of using NUTS2 2013 relate to the continued use of UKI1 Inner London and UKI2 Outer London which are NUTS2 2010 codes.   
Treatment of 2014-2020 EU payment data 
In May 2020, EU payments from the period 2014-2020 were regionalised and added to the historic dataset for the first time (covering interim payments in the years 2014-2018). In January 2024 the interim payments for the years 2019-2020 were added to the dataset.  
That work used the following open data reference sources and the codes found on GitHub:

7. Who will be interested in the dataset?

A wide range of Cohesion Policy stakeholders will find it useful. This data facilitates economic analysis of the effects of the EU funds, enables theories to be tested and improved and can enhance our understanding of the mechanisms behind regional development. By February 2024, users had viewed this data story 33 700 times and 13 500 data downloads had been made.  
As one example of reuse, across you find a visualisation prepared in 2018 by the House of Commons Library to show the pattern of absolute EU payments by NUTS 2 region between 1989 and 2015. 
The .gif prompted a lively debate on Reddit(c)

8. Find out more

Contact us: 
Find more #CohesionOpenData #EURegioDataStories - Website Blog FAQ User Guide - Browse other data stories 
Author: REGIO.B2 John WALSH, Lucian LUCA -  REGIO-EVAL@ec.europa.eu 
Text: 01/2019; Rev 1/2020; Rev 2  5/2020; Rev 2.1 12/2022 (addition of country summary table); 
Data history: Version 1 04/2018; Version 2 05/2022; Version 3 03/2024.