The Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 of 21 November 2016 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 322, 29.11.2016, p. 1–61) was published on 29 November 2016 in the Official Journal of the European Union. This regulation is the result of the fourth round of revision of the common Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), known as NUTS 2016 revision. During this revision round, modifications of the statistical units of 9 EU Member States were made . These modifications include either changes in the number of NUTS units or in unit boundaries only, without altering the number of units.

Changes adopted in the statistical division of Poland

Regarding the statistical division of Poland into NUTS units, changes in all levels have been introduced.

At the NUTS level 2, Mazowieckie Voivodship (previously constituted as one statistical unit of this level) has been divided into two statistical units:

• region Warszawski stołeczny (‘Warsaw capital’), including Warsaw with nine powiats: legionowski, miński, nowodworski, otwocki, wołomiński, grodziski, piaseczyński, pruszkowski and warszawski zachodni;
• region Mazowiecki regionalny (‘Mazowiecki regional’) covering the rest part of Mazowieckie Voivodship.

The number of units of this level increased from 16 to 17. At the same time, the name of this level has been changed from “województwo” (‘voivodships’) to “regiony” (‘regions’).

The consequence of changes in the division of Poland into NUTS level 2 units was the modification of divisions at other levels. At the NUTS level 1, changes are as follows:

• creation of a new statistical unit covering entirely Mazowieckie Voivodship: makroregion województwo mazowieckie (‘Mazowieckie Voivodship Macroregion’);
• changes in the boundaries of the existing region centralny (‘Central Region’) and region wschodni (‘Eastern Region’) – makroregion centralny in new borders includes Łódzkie Voivodship and Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, and makroregion wschodni – Podlaskie Voivodship, Lubelskie Voivodship and Podkarpackie Voivodship;
• the new name of this level has been introduced: “makroregion” (‘macroregion’), replacing the previous name “region”.

The number of NUTS level 1 units in Poland increased from 6 to 7.

Changes at the NUTS 3 level (podregiony – ‘subregions’) are as follows:

• incorporation of powiat garwoliński (having been previously a part of podregion warszawski wschodni) into podregion siedlecki;
• incorporation of powiat nowodworski (having been previously a part of podregion warszawski wschodni) into podregion warszawski zachodni;
• creation of new podregion żyrardowski covering grójecki, sochaczewski and żyrardowski powiats (thus far, all of them were included in podregion warszawski zachodni).

The number of NUTS level 3 units in Poland increased from 72 to 73.

• The list of NUTS 2016 units in Poland (as of 1 January 2018)

Division of Mazowieckie Voivodship into NUTS units, in force since 1 January 2018

Changes adopted in statistical divisions of other EU countries

Changes introduced by the NUTS 2016 revision also apply to eight other European Union countries – in one of them at the NUTS level 1, in four of them at NUTS level 2 and in four of them at NUTS level 3.

• Finland: the boundaries of two NUTS level 3 regions were changed;
• France: the number of NUTS level 1 units increased from 9 to 14 (this change adapted the statistical division to the new administrative division of the country); the NUTS level 2 ceased to be treated as an administrative level, whereas this status has been given to NUTS level 1;
• Germany: the boundaries of two NUTS level 3 regions were changed, another two NUTS level 3 regions were merged;
• Hungary: the number of NUTS level 2 units increased from 7 to 8 (a unit covering the country's capital in its administrative boundaries was created);
• Ireland: the number of NUTS level 2 units increased from 2 to 3 (a unit covering the country's capital together with neighbouring areas was created);
• Lithuania: the number of NUTS level 2 units increased from 1 to 2 (a unit covering the administrative unit in which the country's capital is located was created);
• Netherlands: the boundaries of seven NUTS level 3 regions were changed;
• United Kingdom: the number of NUTS level 2 units increased from 40 to 41 (an additional unit was created in Scotland) and the number of NUTS level 3 units increased from 173 to 179 (the statistical division in Northern Ireland was adapted to the new administrative division).

The number of NUTS units in the EU Member States according to NUTS 2016 revision
 

The division of the EU Member States on NUTS level 1 units, in force since 1 January 2018

• The list of NUTS 2016 revision units in the EU Member States