The North Sea Region (NSR) of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

refers to European countries and regions that have access to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. Cultural and economic co-operation has a strong tradition in the area, dating back to the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

Sawyer (2005): The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings
1–14. and the Hanseatic League.howstuffworks.com
retrieved 3 November 2008. Although not a formally established entity, in political terms the North Sea Region is consolidated through international organisations like the

North Sea Commission The North Sea Commission (NSC) is an international organization founded in 1989. It facilitates partnerships between regions connected with the North Sea and promotes the North Sea Region as an economic entity within Europe. It is part of the Co ...

and transnational co-operation programmes like the North Sea Region Programme of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

Geographic area

North Sea Commission

The partnership of the CPMR North Sea Commission consists of most Norwegian county councils (Trondelag, More og Romsdal, Vestland, Rogaland, Agder, Vestfold og Telemark and Viken), the regions

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömseb ...

, Västra Götaland and Örebro in Sweden, the three Danish regions of Nordjylland,

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

and

Syddanmark The Region of Southern Denmark ( da, Region Syddanmark, ; german: Region Süddänemark, ; frr, Regiuun Syddanmark) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which ab ...

, the German Länder Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bremen, all coastal provinces of the Netherlands (Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Flevoland, North Holland, South Holland and Zeeland) and the Province of West Flanders in Belgium as well as counties and authorities from eastern England (Southend-on-Sea) and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

(Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Fife and Highland).North Sea Commission (PDF)
retrieved 3 November 2008.

North Sea Region Programme – Cooperation Area

The North Sea Region (NSR), as defined in the Operational Programme of th
North Sea Region Programme 2007–2013
covers an area of . It consists of the whole of Norway and Denmark, the eastern parts of the UK, parts of the

Flemish Region The Flemish Region ( nl, Vlaams Gewest, ),; german: Flämische Region usually simply referred to as Flanders ( nl, link=no, Vlaanderen ) ; german: link=no, Flandern is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and t ...

of Belgium, the north western regions of Germany, the northern and western parts of the Netherlands and the south western region of Sweden. Geographically, the region is connected by the large sea basin of the

.North Sea Region Programme 2007–2013: Operational Programme (PDF)
retrieved 3 November 2008.

Population

Based on the co-operation area of the North Sea Region Programme, about 60 million inhabitants (2003) live in the North Sea Region. The population density of the region varies widely, ranging from sparsely populated areas like

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

() in Norway to densely inhabited urban centres like the German city of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

().

Economy

The North Sea Region belongs to the most prosperous parts of the European Union. The average level of GDP across the region was €28,516 per capita in 2002 ($ in 2002 conversion rate). The unemployment rate is below the EU average in most areas. However, there are notable differences concerning economic performance and employment between the areas in the North Sea Region. Currently, the economic structure of the regions bordering the North Sea is undergoing considerable changes, such as shrinking labour markets in the agriculture and fisheries sector and a decline in old industrialised areas.

References

External links

{{portalbar, Europe
North Sea Region Programme 2007–2013

North Sea Region Programme 2000–2006
*Region Euroregions Transnationalism