NUTS-3 BE351 · Belgium
Population
114,7752025
GDP
€3,278M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,595.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE351 · BE32A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Ath (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Arr. Dinant (47). Contrarian pick: Arr. Dinant — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 94).
#1Arr. Ath
Strengths
Connectivity (75) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Air quality (94) · Talent & skills (79)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Ath
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 5) — Arr. Dinant may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Ath · Manufacturing → Arr. Ath · Office → Arr. Dinant · Residential → Arr. Dinant.
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
47.4
49.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.8
56.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
46.8
39.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
94.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.0
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.0
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.6
50.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.4% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.5% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€28,557
€29,208
Population density
72 /km²
195 /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)
€2,967M
€3,460M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€102M
€71M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€196M
€572M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€147M
€514M
GVA — construction (F)
€275M
€227M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€541M
€705M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,100
€24,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,400 PPS
26,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,600
€29,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€3,806M
€8,772M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€288M
€1,340M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€9,518M
€23,931M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€450M
€507M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€14M
€35M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€792M
€926M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,062M
€959M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,815M
€3,244M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,879
€99,285
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€722M
€800M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
37,200
39,700
Self-employed persons
8,900
9,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,900
4,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.6%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.6%
9.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
51,100
55,400
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
45.2%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.6%
40.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.7%
10.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.7%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.6%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.1%
94.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
931,598
120,055
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
515 /1k
498 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,504 kt
1,275 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,481
1,010
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
75 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,290
772
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
58
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
72,449
83,946
Population aged 65+
24,160
26,697
Population aged under 15
18,166
20,229
Median age of population
43.2 yrs
43.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.3%
31.8%
Crude rate of total population change
1.2 /1k
2.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.6 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
10.9 /1k
10.0 /1k
Live births
962
1,068
Deaths
1,245
1,312
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.4%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.41
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
72 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,789
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.7%
24.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
80.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.5%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
501 /100k
603 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
1,129 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.7 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.1 /100k
44.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
297 /100k
336 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
676 /100k
673 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
92 /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)
162 m
54 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr