definition
strict definition
NUTS 3
The finest tier of the European statistical region classification, usually matching a county or a province.
NUTS 3 is the most detailed of the three tiers of the European Union's classification of territorial units for statistics. It usually corresponds to a country's county or province: a German Kreis, a French department, a Turkish province.
The tier exists for statistics. Where its boundary matches an administrative unit, that unit is a region in its own right and this classification is an attribute of it rather than a separate place.
Codes can be reassigned when the classification is revised, so a value carries the version it came from.