In view of Switzerland’s integration into the European regional statistical system NUTS (“Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics”) by EUROSTAT, the FSO developed the classification of Switzerland into institutional major regions in 1992. The result, through consolidation of cantons, was seven major regions at NUTS 2 level: Lake Geneva region (GE, VD, VS), Espace Mittelland (BE, FR, JU, NE, SO), Northwestern Switzerland (AG, BL, BS), Zurich (ZH), Eastern Switzerland (AR, AI, GL, GR, SH, SG, TG), Central Switzerland (LU, NW, OW, SZ, UR, ZG) and Ticino (TI). They are also congruent with the OECD TL2 regions and are used for regional and international comparisons.