A region in the European Union (EU) with under 75 per cent of the average EU per capita income, which is eligible for financial assistance from the EU budget to improve its social overhead capital and employment prospects. Objective 1 also covers the seven most geographically remote regions (the Azores, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique, and Reunion), areas of Sweden and Finland with very low population densities, and Northern Ireland.