The coastal areas typology divides the entire country into 'coastal areas' and 'non-coastal areas'. Coastal areas are defined as local administrative units that border the coastline or have at least 50% of their surface area within a distance of 10 km from the coastline, wherein the enclaves being included in these areas. Non-coastal areas are all other local administrative units, i.e. units that do not border the coastline and at the same time have less than 50% of their surface area within a distance of 10 km from the coastline. The coastal areas typology is the only Union typology based exclusively on topographical information, without reference to the population.
The coastal areas typology is being updated in the case of changes in LAU boundaries.