NUTS-3 BE341 · Belgium
Population
66,8662025
GDP
€2,077M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
321.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE341 · BE32C
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Soignies (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Arr. Arlon (40). Contrarian pick: Arr. Arlon — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 71).
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)
Strengths
Connectivity (77) · Talent & skills (71)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 34 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. Arlon may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Soignies 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
39.9
48.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.0
56.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
37.6
36.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.0
77.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.8
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.8
53.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
1.5% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.6% 5y
1.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,066
€30,848
Population density
208 /km²
307 /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)
€1,880M
€3,050M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€12M
€42M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€238M
€686M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€204M
€605M
GVA — construction (F)
€75M
€199M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€377M
€463M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,500
€24,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,800 PPS
27,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,200
€30,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,495M
€8,772M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€243M
€1,340M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,990M
€23,931M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€328M
€410M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€9M
€27M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€467M
€878M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€712M
€781M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,742M
€2,860M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,020
€107,534
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€562M
€705M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
20,600
32,300
Self-employed persons
2,100
7,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,900
5,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.8%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.7%
8.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
32,900
46,200
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.1%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
43.6%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.4%
40.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.9%
10.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.4%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
94.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
118,922
36,886
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /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.
586
595
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
498 kt
3,198 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
876
545
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
75 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
32
24
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
45,259
70,062
Population aged 65+
10,580
21,183
Population aged under 15
11,027
17,976
Median age of population
39.5 yrs
42.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
23.4%
30.2%
Crude rate of total population change
7.7 /1k
5.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.8 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.1 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
8.2 /1k
9.9 /1k
Live births
670
989
Deaths
547
1,073
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.7%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
209 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
61,126
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.4%
24.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
80.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.9%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
390 /100k
603 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,045 /100k
1,129 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
1.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
66.3 /100k
93.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
506 /100k
445 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,180 /100k
805 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
93 /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)
372 m
92 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
36 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr