NUTS-3 BE233 · Belgium
Population
89,8872025
GDP
€3,260M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
337 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE233 · BE32A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Eeklo (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Arr. Ath (49). Contrarian pick: Arr. Ath — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 75).
#2Arr. Ath
Strengths
Connectivity (75) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Eeklo
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Arr. Ath may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Eeklo 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
54.6
49.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
79.5
56.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.7
39.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
33.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
70.3
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
90.8
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.6
50.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.7% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,266
€29,208
Population density
267 /km²
195 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,951M
€3,460M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€87M
€71M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€617M
€572M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€571M
€514M
GVA — construction (F)
€245M
€227M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€459M
€705M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,800
€24,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,400 PPS
26,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,300
€29,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,203M
€8,772M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,558M
€1,340M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€37,875M
€23,931M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€371M
€507M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€39M
€35M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€892M
€926M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€652M
€959M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,756M
€3,244M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€108,807
€99,285
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€887M
€800M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
30,900
39,700
Self-employed persons
7,600
9,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,500
4,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.7%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.6%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
9.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
44,200
55,400
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.7%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
48.8%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
40.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
20.5%
10.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
35.9%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.7%
94.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
95,485
120,055
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
475 /1k
498 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,276 kt
1,275 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
512
1,010
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
66 km/1000km²
75 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
570
772
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
56,244
83,946
Population aged 65+
20,487
26,697
Population aged under 15
13,156
20,229
Median age of population
45.1 yrs
43.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.4%
31.8%
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
2.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.9 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
10.0 /1k
Live births
724
1,068
Deaths
960
1,312
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.41
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
269 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
78,271
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.1%
24.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
80.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.1%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
566 /100k
603 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
867 /100k
1,129 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
29.0 /100k
44.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
221 /100k
336 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
968 /100k
673 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
42 /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)
2 m
54 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
29 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr