NUTS-3 BE32C · Belgium
Population
109,2212025
GDP
€3,369M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
65.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
355.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE32C · BE344
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Soignies (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Arr. Neufchâteau (46). Contrarian pick: Arr. Neufchâteau — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Connectivity (78) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 38 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Soignies
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 38 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 5) — Arr. Neufchâteau may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Soignies · Manufacturing → Arr. Soignies · Office → Arr. Neufchâteau · Residential → Arr. Neufchâteau.
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
48.6
46.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.3
65.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
36.3
53.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
98.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.7
66.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.0
70.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
53.0
50.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.5% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.2% 5y
4.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€30,848
€36,670
Population density
307 /km²
49 /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)
€3,050M
€2,212M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€42M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€686M
€243M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€605M
€212M
GVA — construction (F)
€199M
€275M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€463M
€442M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,300
€27,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,600 PPS
32,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€30,900
€36,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,772M
€2,495M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,340M
€243M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,931M
€4,990M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€410M
€268M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€27M
€38M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€878M
€485M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€781M
€705M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,860M
€2,050M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€107,534
€93,672
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€705M
€661M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
32,300
26,900
Self-employed persons
7,000
5,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,000
1,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.6%
72.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.6%
15.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.9%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
46,200
30,900
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
0.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
43.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.9%
46.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.7%
14.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
27.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
9.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.9%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
36,886
871,758
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
498 /1k
523 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,198 kt
1,714 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
595
1,340
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
75 km/1000km²
35 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
545
2,011
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
24
73
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
70,062
42,432
Population aged 65+
21,183
12,713
Population aged under 15
17,976
11,489
Median age of population
42.1 yrs
40.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.2%
30.0%
Crude rate of total population change
5.4 /1k
3.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.2 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
10.1 /1k
Crude death rate
9.9 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
989
671
Deaths
1,073
695
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.9%
57.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
—
49 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
59,390
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.8%
15.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.0 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
11.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
603 /100k
390 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,129 /100k
1,045 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
235 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.8 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
93.9 /100k
31.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
445 /100k
360 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
805 /100k
868 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
42 /M
93 /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)
92 m
452 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
66 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr