Contextual Variables

We are assembling a targeted collection of indicators reflecting various aspects of socio-economic and cultural differences between and within the countries under study. This collection considers data availability and comparability at the sub-national level. The set of variables includes essential indicators related to various demographic, social, economic, structural and environmental aspects.

This is our current overview of contextual indicators:

Note: For former Soviet Union countries, we collect data from national sources.
* Partly including data from (potential) candidates for EU membership
** Data from 24,853 European weather stations, of which not all are available from 1990

Additionally, we consider a range of available health indicators such as participation in health screening programs, implementation of anti-tobacco or anti-alcohol measures and efforts to limit traffic accidents.

A substantial amount of contextual information on regional characteristics can be obtained via existing international databases (EUROSTAT, ARDECO, OECD etc.) or national databases and – for health policy indicators – via the systematic descriptions produced by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

Here is a (preliminary) overview of the relevant databases: