NUTS-3 BE343 · Belgium
Population
58,8242025
GDP
€2,336M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
964.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE343 · BE353
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Marche-en-Famenne (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Arr. Philippeville (44). Contrarian pick: Arr. Philippeville — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Talent & skills (71) · Connectivity (69)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Air quality (98) · Connectivity (79)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Marche-en-Famenne
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 11) — Arr. Philippeville may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Marche-en-Famenne 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
45.0
44.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.3
45.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.6
46.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
98.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.3
79.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.8
79.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.4
50.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.4% 5y
3.4% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.7% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,719
€25,034
Population density
61 /km²
75 /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)
€2,115M
€1,544M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€44M
€46M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€191M
€101M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€141M
€62M
GVA — construction (F)
€193M
€102M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€387M
€243M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,500
€26,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,400 PPS
22,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,700
€25,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,495M
€3,806M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€243M
€288M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,990M
€9,518M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€252M
€249M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€13M
€6M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€493M
€417M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€807M
€635M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,960M
€1,465M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,005
€93,069
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€632M
€376M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
25,100
18,900
Self-employed persons
4,700
4,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,700
1,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.8%
70.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
24.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.6%
7.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
27,100
30,600
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.1%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
43.6%
45.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.4%
43.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.9%
17.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.4%
30.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
11.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
91.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
896,832
153,164
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
515 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,028 kt
967 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,080
813
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
28 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,836
1,193
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
77
38
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)
37,191
43,372
Population aged 65+
12,369
14,718
Population aged under 15
9,264
10,046
Median age of population
42.8 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.3%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.4 /1k
-1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.7 /1k
1.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.9 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.9 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
522
543
Deaths
644
769
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.2%
57.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.38
Population density (persons per km²)
61 /km²
75 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
47,263
52,863
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.4%
15.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
80.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.9%
11.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
390 /100k
501 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,045 /100k
1,059 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
235 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
5.1 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.4 /100k
46.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
454 /100k
390 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
981 /100k
703 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
93 /M
92 /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)
296 m
179 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
46 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr