Study on Cross Border Data Collection: state of play beginning 2026

The study on cross border data collection commissioned by DG REGIO is well underway. In 2025 we have approached 27 countries to produce data on incoming cross border workers based on administrative data. A few countries already provide such data on a regular basis and several were able to produce them with limited efforts. For the others, some assistance and guidance was necessary to start up the data production. To facilitate this process we organised two workshops in the second half of 2025. This proved to be successful since almost all participating countries agreed to produce data. At the beginning of 2026, almost all countries have either delivered data or are in the processing phase. This is a very promising state of play.

In the meantime, we analysed the data we received and some preliminary conclusions can be drawn. In a few cases some information was missing. Those countries are currently completing the data set. For the others, the data was complete, and the results look very plausible. The numbers are high for countries where this was expected and low for most of the others. In addition, regions with high shares of workers from the neighbouring countries can be identified. These areas are located in the expected geographical locations. No concrete numbers can be reported at this stage. Further analysis is necessary for this. This will be carried out in the coming months, when data for the remaining countries is also expected.

With the collected data we will be able to provide an overview per country of the numbers and shares of employees resident in neighbouring countries. As an example, we can consider Germany. Figure 2 shows that employees from neighbouring countries working in Germany live in either Poland, France of the Czech Republic. Almost no one lives in Switzerland, Denmark or Luxemburg. 

Table 1 shows the shares of employees living in one of the neighbouring countries, per region. The ten regions with the highest shares reveal that, while the overall share of employees is rather limited for Germany, it can be substantial for certain regions. In the NUTS3 region of Tischenreuth in Bavaria, for example, this share is 10 percent of the total number of employees. In addition, it is evident that even with low shares, the numbers can be substantial in some federal states, such as Bavaria and Nord Rhein Westphalia. 

For more information on the Cross-Border Data Collection Project, please contact: crossborderdata@cbs.nl