NUTS-3 BE211 · Belgium
Population
1,101,6872025
GDP
€67,610M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
993.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE211 · BE234
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Antwerpen (Opportunity 78). Runner-up: Arr. Gent (75). Contrarian pick: Arr. Gent — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 94).
Strengths
Economic base (93) · Talent & skills (85)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (94) · Talent & skills (91)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Antwerpen
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 14) — Arr. Gent may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Gent · Manufacturing → Arr. Gent · Office → Arr. Antwerpen · Residential → Arr. Gent.
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
77.5
74.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
62.3
68.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.3
63.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
25.7
31.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
67.0
65.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
84.5
90.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.8
53.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.0% 5y
3.6% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.5% 5y
9.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€61,369
€66,430
Population density
1,109 /km²
614 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€61,196M
€35,091M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€245M
€262M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€10,193M
€5,778M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€8,997M
€4,743M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,047M
€1,919M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€16,560M
€7,836M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,500
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
54,900 PPS
59,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€61,600
€66,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,336M
€20,203M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,442M
€2,558M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€54,762M
€37,875M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€5,616M
€3,057M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€3,081M
€1,960M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€19,394M
€10,925M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€11,757M
€8,370M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€58,628M
€32,773M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€135,091
€121,123
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€17,749M
€10,546M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
516,200
330,100
Self-employed persons
83,900
52,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
45,300
38,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.6%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.3%
16.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
4.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
522,300
298,100
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.1%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.6%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.6%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
47.3%
48.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.5%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
19.4%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
31.1%
35.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.8%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.7%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,125,296
1,909,350
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
492 /1k
475 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
22,998 kt
12,496 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,200
2,728
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
78 km/1000km²
66 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
291
467
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
56
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
697,240
378,871
Population aged 65+
215,026
115,997
Population aged under 15
189,421
88,738
Median age of population
40.5 yrs
41.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.8%
30.6%
Crude rate of total population change
9.0 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.6 /1k
9.4 /1k
Crude death rate
8.8 /1k
8.9 /1k
Live births
11,660
5,434
Deaths
9,680
5,182
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.0%
54.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
1,143 /km²
618 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,316,176
599,180
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.2%
12.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.3 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
10.3%
6.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
525 /100k
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
861 /100k
867 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
199 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
104 /100k
62.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
377 /100k
408 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,038 /100k
2,131 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
38 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
16 m
7 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
29 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr