NUTS-3 BE344 · Belgium
Population
66,6342025
GDP
€2,444M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,352.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE344 · EL433
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Neufchâteau (Opportunity 46). Runner-up: Ρέθυμνο (29). Contrarian pick: Ρέθυμνο — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 88).
#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. Neufchâteau
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 17) — Ρέθυμνο may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Neufchâteau 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
46.0
29.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
65.8
21.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.2
43.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
98.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.7
28.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.8
17.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.6
68.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.2% 5y
21.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,670
€18,073
Population density
49 /km²
57 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,212M
€1,352M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€62M
€165M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€243M
€98M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€212M
€64M
GVA — construction (F)
€275M
€46M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€442M
€541M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,500
€12,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,700 PPS
22,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,700
€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)
€268M
€190M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€38M
€15M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€485M
€290M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€705M
€212M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,050M
€1,383M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,672
€42,367
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€661M
€383M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
26,900
40,100
Self-employed persons
5,200
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)
6.5%
5.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
30,900
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)
871,758
6,692,617
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
500 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,714 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.
1,340
—
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).
2,011
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
73
51
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
42,432
56,015
Population aged 65+
12,713
15,996
Population aged under 15
11,489
13,705
Median age of population
40.6 yrs
42.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.0%
28.6%
Crude rate of total population change
3.9 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.2 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.1 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
10.5 /1k
9.5 /1k
Live births
671
815
Deaths
695
810
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.0%
53.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.61
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
49 /km²
57 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
59,390
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
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
31.6 /100k
0.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
360 /100k
17.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
868 /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)
452 m
609 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
23 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
66 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr