NUTS-3 BE352 · Belgium
Population
326,8602025
GDP
€13,232M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,165.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE352 · BE236
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Sint-Niklaas (Opportunity 71). Runner-up: Arr. Namur (64). Contrarian pick: Arr. Namur — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 83).
Strengths
Talent & skills (91) · Resilience (82)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Air quality (83) · Connectivity (82)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Sint-Niklaas
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Arr. Namur may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Sint-Niklaas 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
63.9
71.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
55.0
81.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.0
64.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
83.0
28.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.3
68.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.0
90.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
51.6
55.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.0% 5y
2.7% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.8% 5y
9.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€40,483
€49,278
Population density
280 /km²
562 /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)
€11,977M
€11,931M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€101M
€137M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,093M
€2,491M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€717M
€1,545M
GVA — construction (F)
€611M
€1,257M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,448M
€2,952M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,100
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,100 PPS
44,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€40,600
€49,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€3,806M
€20,203M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€288M
€2,558M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€9,518M
€37,875M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,370M
€1,113M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€385M
€194M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,306M
€2,955M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,417M
€2,139M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,364M
€11,143M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,089
€123,808
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,914M
€3,586M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
131,100
109,800
Self-employed persons
23,300
19,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,900
12,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.6%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
16.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.7%
4.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
148,600
131,600
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
45.2%
48.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.6%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.7%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.7%
35.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.6%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.1%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,569
342,091
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
515 /1k
475 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,189 kt
6,700 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,580
953
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
66 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
789
356
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
42
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
210,627
167,282
Population aged 65+
64,713
55,727
Population aged under 15
51,520
44,487
Median age of population
41.6 yrs
42.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.7%
33.3%
Crude rate of total population change
4.2 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.2 /1k
6.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
9.8 /1k
Crude death rate
9.7 /1k
9.2 /1k
Live births
2,832
2,610
Deaths
3,153
2,462
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.2%
59.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.35
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
281 /km²
578 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
309,290
268,260
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.7%
12.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.5%
6.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
501 /100k
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
867 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.8 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
92.5 /100k
32.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
481 /100k
245 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,390 /100k
1,133 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
92 /M
38 /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)
125 m
3 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
29 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr