In 1967 the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, INSEE), together with the French Commissariat général and DATAR (Délégation à l'aménagement du territoire et à l'action régionale) declared the nominal division of France into eight large regions. These were named Zones d'études et d'aménagement du territoire (Research and National Development Zones) or ZEAT.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/ZEAT.png/250px-ZEAT.png)
Until 2016, the ZEAT corresponded to the first level in the European Union Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 1).