OECD Regions at a Glance 2016
OECD Regions at a Glance shows how regions and cities contribute to national economic growth and well-being. This edition updates more than 40 region-by-region indicators to assess disparities within countries and their evolution over the past 15 years. The report covers all the OECD member countries and, where data are available, Brazil, People’s Republic of China, Colombia, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, the Russian Federation and South Africa.
New to this edition:
- A comprehensive picture of well-being in the 391 OECD regions based on 11 aspects that shape people's lives: income, jobs, housing, education, health, environment, safety, civic engagement and governance, access to services, social connections, and life satisfaction.
- Recent trends in subnational government finances and indicators on how competencies are allocated and co-ordinated across levels of governments.
Responsibilities across levels of government
In federal countries, the sovereignty is shared between the federal government and federated states which have their own constitution, parliament and government, and large competences, while federal governments have in general exclusive and listed competences such as foreign policy, defence, money, criminal justice system, etc. In most federal countries, local governments are creations of the federated states. Falling directly under their jurisdiction, their responsibilities are defined by state constitutions and laws, and they often differ from one state to another. In quasi-federation (Spain) and hybrid countries, devolved nations (United Kingdom) or regions (Italy) can define, through primary and/or secondary legislative powers, the local government functioning. In unitary countries, the sovereignty is not shared. The assignment of responsibilities is generally defined by national laws.