NUTS-3 BE254 · Belgium
Population
304,8832025
GDP
€17,027M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
409.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE254 · BE212
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Mechelen (Opportunity 75). Runner-up: Arr. Kortrijk (70). Contrarian pick: Arr. Kortrijk — leads the set on Resilience (EU pctl 78).
Strengths
Economic base (91) · Talent & skills (85)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (89) · Talent & skills (82)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Mechelen
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 14) — Arr. Kortrijk may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Mechelen · Manufacturing → Arr. Kortrijk · Office → Arr. Mechelen · Residential → Arr. Mechelen.
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
70.3
75.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
77.8
66.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.5
62.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
40.7
32.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.7
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
82.3
84.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
61.6
60.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.3% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.9% 5y
1.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€55,848
€57,951
Population density
744 /km²
705 /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)
€15,412M
€19,013M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€110M
€179M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,209M
€3,336M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,706M
€2,995M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,286M
€829M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,268M
€5,646M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€31,200
€29,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
49,900 PPS
51,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€56,000
€58,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,710M
€29,336M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,304M
€7,442M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€29,133M
€54,762M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,338M
€1,624M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€395M
€1,907M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,552M
€5,800M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,987M
€3,223M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€14,448M
€18,215M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€116,954
€132,350
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,644M
€5,515M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
150,200
163,700
Self-employed persons
26,300
27,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,900
21,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.2%
74.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.7%
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
146,200
170,600
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
6.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
2.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.7%
47.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.3%
51.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.6%
19.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.9%
31.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.4%
10.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
96.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
397,161
509,571
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
512 /1k
492 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,592 kt
6,843 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
957
1,468
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
59 km/1000km²
78 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
314
405
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
188,712
227,736
Population aged 65+
67,017
77,797
Population aged under 15
49,154
56,947
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
43.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.5%
34.2%
Crude rate of total population change
7.2 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
9.6 /1k
Live births
2,857
3,440
Deaths
3,081
3,467
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.6%
59.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
748 /km²
724 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
295,558
359,095
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
9.8%
14.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.1 yrs
83.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
5.6%
10.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
634 /100k
525 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
849 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
1.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
83.9 /100k
38.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
326 /100k
252 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,341 /100k
1,079 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
43 /M
34 /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)
23 m
8 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
29 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr