Overview

Lightcast's Global data is designed to best enable international comparisons. As with the creation of the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy to normalize different standards of global occupations, Lightcast created a taxonomy to normalize different standards of global areas in order to provide global data with a consistent and standardized mapping that corresponds with the local governmental definitions. We call this global taxonomy Lightcast Administrative Areas (LAA).

In addition, Lightcast maintains a global standardization system, which categorizes countries into different Sets based on the relative quality and availability of their underlying workforce data. This system helps distinguish where data coverage is more comprehensive versus where it is more limited.

LAA Taxonomy

Talent Analyst uses the Country and Metropolitan Area definitions of the Lightcast Administrative Area framework to filter and display localized data. The tables below contains some references to local government definitions and the breadth by country.

Since official 'metropolitan areas' are defined on national or regional levels, we utilize Lightcast Administrative Areas to ensure that we're comparing similar metropolitan areas globally. Metropolitan definitions are based on government defined regions, in most cases coming direct from local authorities. For example, US Metros are based on the Office of Management and Budget's Metropolitan Statistical Areas. See the tables below for additional detail per country.

LAA Countries

Country	Level 1 Count	Level 2 Count	Level 1 Local Equivalent	Level 2 Local Equivalent	Key notes
Afghanistan	8	34	Region	Province
Albania	3	12	Regions	Counties
Algeria	1	48	Custom	Provinces
American Samoa	1	1	Custom	Custom
Andorra	1	1	Custom	Custom
Angola	18	161	Provinces	Municipalities
Argentina	24	526	Province	Department
Aruba	1	1	Custom	Custom
Australia	10	359	States/Territories	Local Government Areas
Austria	10	36	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Azerbaijan	1	74	Custom	Districts
Bahrain	1	5	Custom	Governates
Barbados	1	1	Custom	Custom	Island nation
Belarus	7	119	Oblasts	Raion
Belgium	4	45	NUTS 1 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Belize	1	6	Custom	Districts
Benin	12	77	Departments	Communes
Bermuda	1	1	Custom	Custom
Bhutan	1	20	Custom	Districts
Bolivia	9	113	Departments	Provinces
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	12	Custom	Cantons
Botswana	1	11	Custom	Districts
Brazil	27	5565	States/Federal Districts	Administrative Districts
British Virgin Islands	1	1	Custom	Custom
Bulgaria	7	29	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Burkina Faso	17	47	Regions	Districts
Burundi	1	18	Custom	Provinces
Cambodia	1	25	Custom	Provinces
Cameroon	10	58	Regions	Departments
Canada	13	5161	Provinces/Territories	Census Sub-Divisions
Cape Verde	1	1	Custom	Custom
Cayman Islands	1	1	Custom	Custom
Chad	1	23	Custom	Provinces
Chile	16	56	Regions	Provinces
China	23	341	Provinces	Autonomous Prefecture / Prefecture-level City
Comoros	1	3	Custom	Islands
Congo	1	12	Custom	Departments
Costa Rica	3	6	Regions	Provinces
Croatia	5	22	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Cuba	1	16	Custom	Provinces
Curacao	1	1	Custom	Custom
Cyprus	2	2	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Czechia	9	15	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Democratic Republic of the Congo	26	189	Provinces	Territories
Denmark	6	12	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Djibouti	1	6	Custom	Regions
Dominica	1	1	Custom	Custom
Dominican Republic	10	32	Regions	Provinces
Ecuador	24	221	Provinces	Cantons
Equatorial Guinea	2	7	Custom	Provinces	Islands & Mainland
Eritrea	1	6	Custom	Regions
Estonia	2	6	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Eswatini	1	4	Custom	Regions
Ethiopia	13	92	Regions	Districts
Fiji	4	15	Districts	Provinces
Finland	6	20	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
France	28	102	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
French Polynesia	1	1	Custom	Custom
Gabon	9	48	Provinces	Departments
Gambia	1	8	Custom	Regions
Georgia	1	13	Custom	Regions
Germany	17	396	NUTS 1 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Ghana	16	260	Regions	Districts/Municipal Districts
Greece	14	53	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Grenada	1	1	Custom	Custom	Island nation
Guadeloupe	1	1	Custom	Custom
Guam	1	1	Custom	Custom
Guernsey	1	1	Custom	Custom
Guinea	8	33	Regions	Prefectures
Guinea-Bissau	1	9	Custom	Regions
Guyana	1	10	Custom	Regions
Haiti	10	140	Departments	Communes
Honduras	18	298	Departments	Municipalities
Hungary	9	21	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Iceland	1	2	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
India	36	640	States	District codes
Indonesia	34	522	Province	Regency
Iran	31	429	Provinces	Counties
Iraq	18	101	Governorates	Districts
Ireland	4	9	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Isle of Man	1	1	Custom	Custom
Israel	7	16	Districts	Subdistricts
Italy	22	108	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Ivory Coast	14	31	Districts	Regions
Jamaica	1	14	Custom	Parishes
Japan	47	1896	Prefectures	Administrative Divisions (cities, towns, villages, & wards)
Jersey	1	1	Custom	Custom
Jordan	12	52	Governates	Districts
Kazakhstan	19	218	Region	District / City
Kuwait	1	6	Custom	Governates
Kyrgyzstan	9	55	Province / Independent city	District / Independent city
Latvia	2	7	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Lebanon	8	26	Governates	Districts
Lesotho	1	10	Custom	Districts
Liberia	1	15	Custom	Counties
Libya	3	22	Provinces	Districts
Liechtenstein	1	1	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Lithuania	3	11	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Luxembourg	2	2	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Macao	1	1	Custom	Custom
Malaysia	16	144	States	Districts
Malawi	3	32	Regions	Districts
Mali	10	53	Regions	Cercles
Malta	2	3	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Mauritania	1	15	Custom	Wilayats
Mexico	32	2466	States/Federal Districts	Municipalities
Moldova	1	37	Custom	Districts
Monaco	1	1	Custom	Custom
Mongolia	4	22	Regions	Districts
Montenegro	1	23	Custom	Municipalities
Morocco	12	75	Regions	Prefectures
Mozambique	11	159	Provinces	Districts
Myanmar	18	80	Regions	Districts
Namibia	1	14	Custom	Regions
Nepal	7	77	Provinces	Districts
Netherlands	13	41	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
New Caledonia	1	3	Custom	Provinces
New Zealand	3	68	Custom	Statistical Areas 3 (Cities & Districts)
Niger	8	67	Regions	Departments
North Macedonia	1	8	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Norway	8	14	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Oman	11	61	Governorates	Wilayats
Pakistan	7	160	Provinces	Districts
Philippines	3	17	Custom	Philippine Standard Geographic Codes (Regions)	LAA1 is based on different islands
Poland	18	74	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Portugal	8	26	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Qatar	1	8	Custom	Municipalities
Romania	9	43	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Russia	83	2421	Federal district	District
Rwanda	5	30	Province/City	Districts
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	1	Custom	Custom	Island nation
Saint Lucia	1	1	Custom	Custom	Island nation
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	1	Custom	Custom	Island nation
San Marino	1	1	Custom	Custom
Saudi Arabia	13	118	Provinces	Governorates
Senegal	14	46	Regions	Departments
Serbia	4	25	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Sierra Leone	1	5	Custom	Provinces
Singapore	1	1	Custom	Custom	LAA1 & 2 equates to the whole country
Slovakia	5	9	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Slovenia	3	13	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Solomon Islands	1	10	Custom	Provinces
Somalia	1	18	Custom	Region
South Africa	9	52	Provinces	District Municipalities
South Korea	3	17	Custom	Province
South Sudan	11	79	Counties	States
Spain	20	60	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Sri Lanka	9	25	Provinces	Districts
Sudan	19	189	States	Counties
Suriname	1	10	Custom	Districts
Sweden	9	22	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Switzerland	8	27	NUTS 2 Regions	NUTS 3 Regions
Syria	14	62	Governorates	Districts
Tajikistan	1	5	Custom	Regions
Tanzania	31	170	Regions	Municipalities/Districts
Thailand	1	77	Custom	Provinces
The Bahamas	1	32	Custom	Districts
Timor-Leste	1	13	Custom	Municipalities
Togo	5	40	Regions	Prefectures
Trinidad and Tobago	1	15	Custom	Regions
Tunisia	24	264	Governates	Districts
Turkey	81	973	Districts	Provinces
Turkmenistan	5	59	Regions	Districts
Turks and Caicos Islands	1	1	Custom	Custom
Uganda	4	135	Administrative Regions	Districts
United Arab Emirates	7	9	Emirates	Custom
United Kingdom	12	391	NUTS 1 Regions	Local Authority Districts
United States	51	3194	State-level FIPS	County-level FIPS
US Virgin Islands	1	1	Custom	Custom
Uzbekistan	14	199	Regions	Districts
Vatican City	1	1	Custom	Custom
Yemen	1	22	Custom	Governates
Zambia	10	116	Provinces	Districts
Zimbabwe	1	10	Custom	Provinces

LAA Metropolitan Areas by Country

Country	Count	Local Equivalent	Key population notes
Afghanistan	2	Custom	>1 million population
Albania	1	Custom	>500k population
Algeria	4	Custom	>500k population
Angola	4	Custom	>1 million population
Argentina	30	Custom
Australia	19	Custom - urban equivalents based on SA3
Austria	5	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Azerbaijan	1	Custom	> 1 million population
Bahrain	1	Custom	whole country
Belarus	2	Custom	>500k population
Belgium	6	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Belize	1	Custom	>100k population
Benin	1	Custom	>1 million population
Bhutan	1	Custom	Capitol (<250k population)
Bolivia	7	Custom	>250k population
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	Custom	>250k population
Botswana	1	Custom	>250k population
Brazil	58	Custom
Bulgaria	4	Custom
Burkina Faso	2	Custom	>1 million population
Burundi	1	Custom	>1 million population
Cambodia	1	Custom	>1 million population
Cameroon	2	Custom	> 1 million population
Canada	41	Census Metropolitan Areas	>100k population
Central African Republic	1	Custom	>1 million population
Chad	1	Custom	>1 million population
Chile	13	Custom	>200k population
China	61	Custom	>1 million population
Colombia	26	Custom
Comoros	1	Custom	>100k population
Congo	2	Custom	>1 million population
Costa Rica	4	Custom
Croatia	2	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Cuba	1	Custom	>1 million population
Cyprus	1	Custom
Czechia	4	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Democratic Republic of the Congo	6	Custom	>1 million population
Denmark	4	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Djibouti	1	Custom	>750k population
Dominican Republic	1	Custom	>1 million population
Ecuador	6	Custom	>250k population
Egypt	15	Custom	>250k population
Equatorial Guinea	1	Custom
Eritrea	1	Custom	>750k population
Estonia	1	Custom
Eswatini	1	Custom	>100k population
Ethiopia	4	Custom	>250k population
Fiji	1	Custom	>100k population
Finland	3	Custom
France	35	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Gabon	1	Custom	>750k population
Gambia	1	Custom	>500k population
Georgia	1	Custom	>1 million population
Germany	68	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Ghana	2	Custom	>1 million population
Guinea	1	Custom	>1 million population
Guinea-Bissau	1	Custom	>250k population
Guyana	1	Custom	>100k population
Haiti	1	Custom
Honduras	2	Custom	>1 million population
Hong Kong	1	Custom
Hungary	5	Custom
Iceland	1
India	318	Custom	Metros over 1m
Indonesia	34	Custom
Iran	18	Custom	>500k population
Iraq	2	Custom	>1 million population
Ireland	2	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Israel	5	Custom
Italy	22	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Ivory Coast	1	Custom	>1 million population
Jamaica	1	Custom	>1 million population
Japan	14	Major Metropolitan Areas & Metropolitan Areas
Jordan	2	Custom	>500k population
Kazakhstan	8	Custom	>300k population
Kuwait	1	Custom	whole country
Kyrgyzstan	1	Custom	>500k population
Latvia	1	Custom
Lebanon	2	Custom	>250k population
Lesotho	1	Custom
Liberia	1	Custom	>1 million population
Libya	3	Custom	>250k population
Lithuania	2	Custom
Luxembourg	1	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Malawi	2	Custom	>750k population
Malaysia	12	Custom
Mali	1	Custom	>1 million population
Mauritania	1	Custom	>1 million population
Mexico	92	Metropolis de Mexico	>200k population
Moldova	1	Custom	>500k population
Mongolia	1	Custom	>500k population
Montenegro	1	Custom	>250k population
Morocco	6	Custom
Mozambique	1	Custom	>1 million population
Myanmar	3	Myanmar Metros
Namibia	1	Custom	>500k population
Nepal	2	Custom	>500k population
Netherlands	13	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
New Caledonia	1	Custom	>100k population
New Zealand	7	Custom
Niger	1	Custom	>1 million population
North Macedonia	1	Custom
Norway	3	Custom
Oman	2	Custom	>500k population
Pakistan	19	Custom	>500k population
Philippines	14	Custom
Poland	19	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Portugal	3	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Puerto Rico	7	Custom
Qatar	2	Custom
Romania	9	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Russia	16	Custom
Rwanda	1	Custom	>1 million population
Saudi Arabia	10	Custom
Senegal	1	Custom	>1 million population
Serbia	1	Custom	>1 million population
Sierra Leone	1	Custom	>1 million population
Singapore	1	Custom
Slovakia	2	Custom
Slovenia	2	Custom
Solomon Islands	1	Custom	>100k population
South Africa	8	Metropolitan municipalities
South Korea	8	Custom
South Sudan	1	Custom	>500k population
Spain	23	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Sri Lanka	1	Custom	>500k population
Sudan	2	Custom	>1 million population
Suriname	1	Custom	>250k population
Sweden	4	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Switzerland	7	Eurostat Metros	>250k population
Syria	2	Custom	>1 million population
Tajikistan	1	Custom	>750k population
Tanzania	3	Custom	>750k population
Thailand	11	Custom	>500k population
The Bahamas	1	Custom	>250k population
Timor-Leste	1	Custom	>100k population
Togo	1	Custom	>1 million population
Trinidad and Tobago	1	Custom	>500k population
Tunisia	2	Custom	>250k population
Turkey	37	Custom	>250k population
Turkmenistan	1	Custom	>1 million population
Uganda	1	Custom	>1 million population
United Arab Emirates	7	Custom
United Kingdom	63	Centre for Cities Primary Urban Areas
United States	384	Metropolitan Statistical Areas (not micropolitan)	>100k population
Uzbekistan	5	Custom	>500k population
Yemen	3	Custom	>500k population
Zambia	2	Custom	>500k population
Zimbabwe	2	Custom	>500k population

LAA Sets of Global Coverage

Lightcast's global data varies by country due to differences in how labor market information is collected, published, and represented online. Factors such as the frequency and depth of government LMI releases, the volume and consistency of online job postings, the availability of professional profile data, and language coverage all influence the completeness and reliability of insights for a given country.

To provide transparency into these differences, Lightcast groups countries into four different LAA Sets. These Sets categorize countries based on the relative quality, depth, and availability of their underlying workforce data, helping users understand where analysis is most comprehensive versus more directional.

Set 1 - The most comprehensive and reliable data, with deep coverage across job postings, professional profiles, and labor market information (LMI).

Set 2 - High quality datasets with robust multilingual processing and strong coverage across postings, profiles, and LMI.

Set 3 - Foundational labor market visibility, including core job postings, leading employers, and essential LMI for workforce insights.

Set 4 - Basic-level coverage providing core job, skill, and occupation insights across select countries. Ideal for early-stage analysis and global workforce planning.

Note; For set 4 countries, aggregation of information can be sporadic or unreliable. Please ensure you are safeguarding against fluctuations in data coverage in any analysis. Furthermore, postings data for set 4 country is only sourced from company sources and not job boards or intermediaries.

FAQs

What are Lightcast Administrative Areas?

The geographical locations associated with our global dataset are defined by Lightcast Administrative Areas, or LAAs. These are geocodes, or statistical divisions of a country for ease of analysis. They align with local geocode standards in each country that Lightcast maintains data for, for example the NUTS area codes across the European Union, and the FIPS subdivisions of the United States.

Why isn't a particular metro area available within the global metros?

Metropolitan definitions are based on government defined regions, in most cases coming direct from local authorities. Lightcast has a threshold in each country to maintain a manageable number of metropolitan areas. Refer to the table above to determine the specific local definitions and the threshold in each country.

Do global metros cover entire nations?

No. Global metros do not exhaustively cover a country's area. Smaller regions areas are included in national estimates but not specifically addressed within the "metropolitan" areas of the global tool.

How does Lightcast classify job postings and profiles to geographical locations?

Lightcast collects many thousands of job postings and profiles from around the world. The text of these postings and profiles is analyzed for place names which are singled out and recorded as the raw location associated with that posting. Only one location is saved per posting or profile. This raw location is submitted to Google geocoding to derive the latitude and longitude of the location. All other other location data (such as city, county, state, Lightcast Administrative Areas, etc) is assigned from those values.

What are the "Sets" per LAA country?

Lightcast categories LAA countries into four different set levels based on the relative depth, quality, and availability of workforce data. They help explain why some countries support more comprehensive labor market analysis than others.

What factors are considered when assigning a country to a given set?

Set assignments reflect a combination of factors, including the availability and frequency of government labor market information (LMI), the volume and consistency of job postings, the presence and representativeness of professional profile data, and language coverage and processing capabilities.

How should I use the global coverage sets when conducting analysis?

LAA Sets are best used as guidance when interpreting results. Countries in lower Sets can still support meaningful analysis, but insights should be viewed as more directional. Comparisons and deeper workforce planning analyses are strongest when countries fall within the same or similar LAA Sets.

Do the global coverage sets affect product availability?

Yes. Countries in LAA Sets 1–3 are available in the Talent Analyst software experience. Countries in LAA Set 4 are available through Lightcast APIs and Data Share offerings, where they are commonly used for early-stage or directional analysis.

Glossary

US Data Release Notes

Lightcast UK Data Process Overview

BG-Bulgaria Methodology

DE-Germany Methodology