NUTS-3 BE32B · Belgium
Population
403,3462025
GDP
€13,113M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
65.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
475 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE32B · NO092
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Charleroi (Opportunity 60). Runner-up: Agder (46). Contrarian pick: Agder — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Connectivity (84) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Charleroi
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 5) — Agder may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Charleroi 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
60.1
45.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.3
76.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
39.1
68.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
66.7
72.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
84.3
48.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.0
79.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.4
27.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
3.4% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,510
€47,853
Population density
849 /km²
20 /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)
€11,869M
€13,886M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€47M
—
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,794M
—
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,208M
€1,615M
GVA — construction (F)
€691M
€1,286M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,506M
€2,459M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,300
€25,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,000 PPS
35,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,600
€49,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,772M
€8,238M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,340M
€632M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,931M
€17,442M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,370M
€1,122M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€210M
€384M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,865M
€2,486M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,965M
€4,401M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,129M
€17,964M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,361
€109,481
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,744M
€4,399M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
140,300
146,000
Self-employed persons
18,800
—
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,700
15,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.6%
76.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.6%
13.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
9.0%
4.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
168,700
166,800
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
3.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
43.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.9%
50.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.7%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
29.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
9.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.9%
100.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
345,574
2,178,497
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
498 /1k
533 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,142 kt
16,884 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,295
5,849
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
569
1,815
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
75 km/1000km²
6 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
3
70
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
255,855
205,991
Population aged 65+
77,848
62,152
Population aged under 15
69,643
54,045
Median age of population
40.9 yrs
41.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.4%
30.2%
Crude rate of total population change
5.3 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.1 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.9 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
8.0 /1k
Live births
4,001
3,036
Deaths
4,321
2,580
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.6%
56.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
1.53
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.8%
18.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.0 yrs
82.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
13.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
603 /100k
263 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,129 /100k
841 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
218 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.5 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
242 /100k
23.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
621 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,931 /100k
2,248 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
42 /M
13 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.82
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.57
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.94
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
2.03
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.92
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
—
Housing market
Dwelling price per m² (NOK, all types, Statistics Norway)
—
36,158 NOK/m²
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
160 m
809 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
191 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
18 days/yr