NUTS-3 BE252 · Belgium
Population
52,7402025
GDP
€1,969M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
365.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE252 · BE32D
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Diksmuide (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Arr. Thuin (44). Contrarian pick: Arr. Thuin — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 81).
Strengths
Talent & skills (82) · Resilience (82)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Connectivity (81) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Diksmuide
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 4) — Arr. Thuin may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Diksmuide 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
51.8
44.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
81.5
44.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
69.7
38.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.7
80.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
82.3
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
58.4
53.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€37,340
€24,626
Population density
144 /km²
117 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,783M
€2,067M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€147M
€55M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€235M
€150M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€203M
€115M
GVA — construction (F)
€219M
€110M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€359M
€359M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€31,200
€24,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,300 PPS
21,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,400
€24,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,710M
€8,772M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,304M
€1,340M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€29,133M
€23,931M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€215M
€338M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€19M
€10M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€480M
€602M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€342M
€791M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,671M
€1,938M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€108,655
€89,205
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€537M
€478M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
18,700
26,400
Self-employed persons
6,000
6,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
2,300
1,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.2%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.7%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.2%
8.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
25,300
38,200
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.7%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.3%
40.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.6%
10.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.9%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.4%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
94.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
195,518
373,146
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
512 /1k
498 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
348
1,140
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,442 kt
589 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
660
1,229
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
59 km/1000km²
75 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
20
35
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
32,605
57,884
Population aged 65+
11,807
20,636
Population aged under 15
8,328
14,221
Median age of population
44.2 yrs
44.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
35.7%
Crude rate of total population change
3.4 /1k
-0.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.8 /1k
2.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
11.5 /1k
Live births
390
764
Deaths
568
1,069
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.8%
60.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.30
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
145 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
46,562
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
9.8%
24.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.1 yrs
80.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
5.6%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
634 /100k
603 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
849 /100k
1,129 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.5 /100k
45.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
137 /100k
464 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
498 /100k
742 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
43 /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)
7 m
224 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
44 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr