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Northern Sparsely Populated Areas

Region Norrbotten is active in the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) network. The network works to increase knowledge within EU regional policy so that it best supports development in the sparsely populated areas of northern Europe.

The Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) political network consists of representatives from the 14 northernmost regions in Northern Europe. These representatives are also rapporteurs in the Europaforum Norra Sverige, read more about it here. NSPA works together to raise awareness of the region in the EU institutions, influence EU policy and provide a platform for best practice.

Much of northern Sweden's knowledge-raising work towards the EU is carried out through NSPA. The aim is to jointly draw the EU's attention to northern Sweden's development opportunities and argue for, for example, the extra allocation, i.e. the sparsity bonus, that goes to the NSPA area. The NSPA region is recognised within the EU as an area with special, very sparsely populated areas with long distances to European markets. The accession treaty for Sweden and Finland gave special status to the very sparsely populated areas in the northernmost part of the EU.

Read more on the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas website