NUTS-3 BE223 · Belgium
Population
211,6542025
GDP
€6,413M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
633.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE223 · ITG15
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Tongeren (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Caltanissetta (33). Contrarian pick: Caltanissetta — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 71).
Strengths
Cost advantage (71) · Growth momentum (52)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Tongeren
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — Caltanissetta may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Tongeren leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
62.7
33.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
67.8
35.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.9
28.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
89.3
12.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
7.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.8
51.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
3.4% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.6% 5y
0.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€30,300
€20,665
Population density
334 /km²
115 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,805M
€4,556M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€138M
€282M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€697M
€434M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€637M
€241M
GVA — construction (F)
€499M
€426M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,305M
€879M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,300
€16,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,100 PPS
21,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€30,400
€20,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,890M
€24,161M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,527M
€2,214M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,341M
€40,753M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€868M
€686M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€53M
€51M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,764M
€1,200M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,402M
€1,335M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,412M
€4,759M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€101,919
€69,449
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,748M
€1,162M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
64,900
74,300
Self-employed persons
16,700
18,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,100
5,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.0%
54.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.6%
33.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
12.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
97,200
87,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
13,701
Enterprise births
—
1,166
Enterprise deaths
—
788
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.9%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
2.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.5%
16.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.2%
24.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.6%
7.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.6%
15.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.9%
3.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.0%
90.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
731,185
275,528
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
733 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,053 kt
992 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,986
1
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
44 km/1000km²
28 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
938
0
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
23
96
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)
132,049
156,417
Population aged 65+
48,877
58,686
Population aged under 15
30,728
30,318
Median age of population
45.8 yrs
47.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.0%
37.5%
Crude rate of total population change
4.9 /1k
-6.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
-2.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
11.4 /1k
Live births
1,736
1,640
Deaths
2,035
2,797
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.3%
56.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.45
1.20
Population density (persons per km²)
336 /km²
116 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
188,670
164,385
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
10.2%
44.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
82.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.7%
38.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
463 /100k
288 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
843 /100k
1,031 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
196 /100k
209 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
27.1 /100k
13.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
232 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
602 /100k
533 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
64 m
413 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
79 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr