library(regions)
library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)
data(daily_internet_users)

The daily_internet_users data set is created by this code, which is not evaluated here:

isoc_r_iuse_i <- eurostat::get_eurostat("isoc_r_iuse_i",
time_format = "num")

daily_internet_users <- isoc_r_iuse_i  %>%
dplyr::filter ( unit == "PC_IND",          # percentage of individuals
indic_is == "I_IDAY") %>%  # daily internet users
select (geo, time, values )

Simply downloading a regional statistics from the Eurostat data warehouse and placing the observation on the same map does not work. If you look into the data, you may realize that the geo codes of French, Lithuanian or Hungarian regions, to name a few, do not match in the years 2012 and 2018.

Let’s have a look at these countries in two years, using the helper function get_country_code. The year 2012 is coded with the NUTS2010 typology and the year 2018 with the NUTS2016 typology. Then we use the valideate_nuts_region function with the default NUTS2016 (which is currently valid in the European Union) and the obsolete NUTS2010 definitions.

test <- daily_internet_users  %>%
mutate ( country_code = get_country_code(geo = geo) ) %>%
dplyr::filter ( time %in% c(2012, 2018),
country_code %in% c("FR", "HU", "LT")) %>%
mutate ( time = paste0("Y", time )) %>%
pivot_wider (., names_from ="time", values_from = "values") %>%
validate_nuts_regions() %>%  # default year the current valid 2016
validate_nuts_regions(.,  nuts_year = 2010 )

The following NUTS regions codes are not valid in the 2010 definition. These sub-national divisions were defined in 2013 or 2016. Some of these regional boundaries did not change, but got new codes after altering the administrative divisions of France. Some of the seemingly missing 2012 data can be found under different codes.

# only first 10 regions are printed
knitr::kable(
head(test [ ! test$valid_2010, ], 10) ) geo country_code Y2018 Y2012 orig_typology valid_2016 typology valid_2010 FRB FR 70 NA nuts_level_1 TRUE NA FALSE FRB0 FR 70 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE FRC FR 72 NA nuts_level_1 TRUE NA FALSE FRC1 FR 71 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE FRC2 FR 74 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE FRD FR 79 NA nuts_level_1 TRUE NA FALSE FRD1 FR 78 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE FRD2 FR 80 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE FRE FR 75 NA nuts_level_1 TRUE NA FALSE FRE1 FR 73 NA nuts_level_2 TRUE NA FALSE And there are two regions that are not valid in 2016, because these typologies were changed. Vilnius and Budapest, two big cities, were detached from their larger containing regional units. knitr::kable( test [ ! test$valid_2016, ]
)
geo country_code Y2018 Y2012 orig_typology valid_2016 typology valid_2010
HU10 HU NA 68 NA FALSE nuts_level_2 TRUE
LT00 LT NA 49 NA FALSE nuts_level_2 TRUE

Especially in the case of Budapest and Central Hungary, the comparative data can be produced for different boundary definitions, because the boundary change was simple. (Budapest was removed from Central Hungary.) In Lithuania, the change was not more complex, but unfortunately it cut through a far less rarely used typology level, NUTS3. While the change is simple, the replacement data is usually not published.