NUTS-3 BE335 · Belgium
Population
213,7602025
GDP
€7,357M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
66%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,164 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE335 · BE256
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Roeselare (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Arr. Verviers — communes francophones (56). Contrarian pick: Arr. Verviers — communes francophones — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Economic base (87) · Resilience (83)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Air quality (95) · Connectivity (81)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Roeselare
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 4) — Arr. Verviers — communes francophones may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Roeselare 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
56.2
63.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
55.8
83.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.7
58.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
95.3
33.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.7
65.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
82.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.0
63.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.9% 5y
2.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,417
€54,516
Population density
184 /km²
595 /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)
€6,659M
€7,943M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€73M
€159M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,058M
€1,746M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€800M
€1,565M
GVA — construction (F)
€646M
€715M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,129M
€1,449M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,600
€31,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,700 PPS
48,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,500
€54,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,523M
€16,710M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€941M
€2,304M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,375M
€29,133M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€868M
€701M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€44M
€195M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,836M
€2,289M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,917M
€1,586M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,263M
€7,447M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€101,736
€105,153
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,522M
€2,394M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
74,600
86,100
Self-employed persons
15,300
15,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,500
15,600
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.6%
76.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
22.8%
11.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
88,200
78,200
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.8%
42.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.0%
51.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
15.2%
18.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.9%
30.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.1%
10.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,182,701
140,287
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
497 /1k
512 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,266 kt
4,932 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,115
515
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
69 km/1000km²
59 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
989
320
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
30
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
134,272
100,925
Population aged 65+
43,472
34,541
Population aged under 15
36,016
25,505
Median age of population
41.8 yrs
42.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.4%
34.2%
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.3 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
9.8 /1k
Live births
1,945
1,530
Deaths
2,090
1,574
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.2%
59.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.58
Population density (persons per km²)
184 /km²
585 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
206,347
147,466
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.6%
9.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
83.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.6%
5.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
634 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,052 /100k
849 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
205 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
1.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
51.2 /100k
26.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
262 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
969 /100k
1,285 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
51 /M
43 /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)
399 m
24 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
28 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
2 days/yr