I have done some preliminary analysis of Eurostat statistics of NUTS3 regions in the Atlantic. This is not the final word as more analysis needs to be done. If you look at the tables you will see an "average" and a "count".
- The average is the average of the indicator over all the NUTS3 regions concerned. It is an average of averages. Thus the GDP per inhabitant is the average of the regional GDPs per inhabitant round the sea-basin not the total GDP of the sea-basin divided by the total population.
- The count is the number of regions in the sample expressed as a total number of regions round the sea-basin concerned.
The NUTS3 regions are really too large to identify specific "coastal" features. All of Ireland is considered as coastal. However some observations can be made,
- Only regions with a coastline were included
- A number of regions have not reported (ie "count" is not always 100%.)
- There is more correlation between different regions within a country than between different regions round the same sea-basin
- The statistics only go up to 2007 so the economic downturn is not visible
- In the UK the Atlantic regions look poorer than the inland or North Sea ones
- In Spain growth has been faster in the Mediterranean that in the Atlantic
- France is rather uniform although the Mediterranean is slightly poorer than inland or the Atlantic
Download full set of statistics (pdf)
[img_assist|nid=1049|title=change (percent) in purchasing power per individual in Atlantic regions|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=455]