\ua9 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Recent debates about ‘left behind’ places have opened up new opportunities to understand the interconnected challenges faced by many regions in the Global North. At the same time, the application of this label to a wide variety of places with different characteristics has been accused of obscuring as much as it reveals. In this paper, we shed light on the variegated nature of ‘left behind’ regions through a cluster analysis of NUTS-3 regions in the EU15. We identify six types of areas, of which three are characterised as ‘left behind’ based on their performance on a range of economic, demographic and social variables. There are important differences between these three types of regions, strengthening the argument for policy responses adapted to local circumstances
