NUTS-3 BE100 · Belgium
Population
1,271,7092025
GDP
€108,153M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
63.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
160.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE100 · DE712
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt (72). Contrarian pick: Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Talent & skills (94)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (99) · Demographic outlook (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 1) — Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad · Residential → Frankfurt am Main, Kreisfreie Stadt.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
72.1
71.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.0
48.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.3
58.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
44.3
35.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
72.0
78.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
94.0
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
37.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.3% 5y
2.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€85,045
€119,739
Population density
7,940 /km²
3,009 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€97,893M
€82,686M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€24M
€9M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,645M
€7,933M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,922M
€5,837M
GVA — construction (F)
€2,170M
€1,602M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€21,683M
€24,909M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
76,000 PPS
107,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€85,300
€120,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€21,248M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€475M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€55,797M
€137,102M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€8,004M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€6,538M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€40,663M
€36,304M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€28,707M
€11,930M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€92,575M
€80,595M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€152,854
€126,592
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€22,391M
€17,622M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
729,700
761,090
Self-employed persons
85,900
42,980
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,100
39,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
67.1%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.5%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
587,800
427,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
37,455
Enterprise births
—
4,045
Enterprise deaths
—
3,739
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
8.2%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.0%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.9%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
63.5%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.5%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
41.0%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.0%
9.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,372,971
11,125,495
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
389 /1k
612 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,822 kt
15,888 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
627
2,974
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
68 km/1000km²
—
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
49
393
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
11
13
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
881,244
528,969
Population aged 65+
165,217
120,486
Population aged under 15
225,248
106,566
Median age of population
36.1 yrs
39.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
18.7%
22.8%
Crude rate of total population change
5.8 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.4 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
11.1 /1k
9.9 /1k
Crude death rate
6.7 /1k
8.3 /1k
Live births
14,034
7,434
Deaths
8,526
6,246
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
44.3%
42.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.19
Population density (persons per km²)
7,827 /km²
3,073 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,568,829
895,965
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.6%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.3%
16.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
678 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
914 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
214 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
2.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
443 /100k
170 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
619 /100k
594 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
4,651 /100k
2,826 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
9 /M
27 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
81 m
114 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
15 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr