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 · EL433
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Arlon (Opportunity 40). Runner-up: Ρέθυμνο (29). Contrarian pick: Ρέθυμνο — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 88).
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)
#2Ρέθυμνο
Strengths
Demographic outlook (88) · Cost advantage (81)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Arlon
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 34 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 4) — Ρέθυμνο may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ρέθυμνο · Manufacturing → Arr. Arlon · Office → Arr. Arlon · Residential → Ρέθυμνο.
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
29.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.0
21.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
37.6
43.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.0
28.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.8
17.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.8
68.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.6% 5y
21.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,066
€18,073
Population density
208 /km²
57 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,880M
€1,352M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€12M
€165M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€238M
€98M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€204M
€64M
GVA — construction (F)
€75M
€46M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€377M
€541M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,500
€12,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,800 PPS
22,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,200
€17,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,495M
€2,427M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€243M
€104M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,990M
€4,111M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€328M
€190M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€9M
€15M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€467M
€290M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€712M
€212M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,742M
€1,383M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,020
€42,367
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€562M
€383M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
20,600
40,100
Self-employed persons
2,100
14,440
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,900
1,730
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.8%
72.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
12.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.7%
5.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
32,900
40,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
8,128
Enterprise births
—
581
Enterprise deaths
—
221
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.1%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
43.6%
28.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.4%
36.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.9%
3.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.4%
17.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
6.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
118,922
6,692,617
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
500 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
498 kt
1,524 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
586
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
1 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
876
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
32
51
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
45,259
56,015
Population aged 65+
10,580
15,996
Population aged under 15
11,027
13,705
Median age of population
39.5 yrs
42.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
23.4%
28.6%
Crude rate of total population change
7.7 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.8 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.1 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
8.2 /1k
9.5 /1k
Live births
670
815
Deaths
547
810
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.7%
53.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
209 /km²
57 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
61,126
83,800
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.4%
18.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.9%
12.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
390 /100k
410 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,045 /100k
966 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
66.3 /100k
0.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
506 /100k
17.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,180 /100k
205 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
93 /M
71 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
372 m
609 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
23 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr