Areas in EU eligible under the regional objective of the Structural Funds (1994-99)

The most relevant of these objectives from a rural areas perspective are: - Objective 1, applying to regions which are lagging behind economically, with a GDP of less than 75% of the EU average; - Objective 5a providing support for downstream processing of agricultural produce as well as investment aid and compensatory allowances in less favoured areas; - Objective 5b, applying to rural areas with a low level of socio-economic development, high dependency on agricultural employment, low agricultural incomes and population problems (low density or declining population); - Objective 6, applying to regions north of the 62nd parallel with a very low population density (less than 8 inhabitants/sq