NUTS-3 CH021 · Switzerland
Population
1,071,2162025
GDP
€92,059M2022
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,957.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
CH021 · BE241
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Bern / Berne (72). Contrarian pick: Bern / Berne — leads the set on Governance (EU pctl 96).
Strengths
Economic base (93) · Talent & skills (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 2) — Bern / Berne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Bern / Berne · Manufacturing → Bern / Berne · Office → Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde · Residential → Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde.
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
72.1
77.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
78.0
56.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.7
68.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
46.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
58.7
77.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
77.5
93.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.6
53.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
4.1% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.6% 5y
7.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€85,938
€62,739
Population density
180 /km²
707 /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)
€86,474M
€38,319M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€618M
€98M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€17,238M
€2,826M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
—
€2,417M
GVA — construction (F)
—
€1,665M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
—
€16,236M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
—
€32,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
—
56,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
—
€62,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
—
€16,879M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
—
€800M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
—
€32,835M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€3,608M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€17,351M
€3,230M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
—
€13,110M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€15,175M
€4,384M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€85,176M
€36,776M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€154,529
€142,167
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€27,159M
€10,967M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
—
307,100
Self-employed persons
—
59,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
—
16,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
74.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.5%
19.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.5%
5.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
598,200
318,200
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
5.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.1%
7.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
4.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.3%
56.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.4%
57.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
26.3%
19.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.2%
39.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.8%
13.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
9,422,850
1,501,796
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
556 /1k
720 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
6,612
2,891
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
34,303 kt
9,498 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
40 km/1000km²
83 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
617
428
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
85
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
678,379
422,385
Population aged 65+
239,411
131,701
Population aged under 15
153,426
120,686
Median age of population
44.8 yrs
41.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.3%
31.2%
Crude rate of total population change
7.2 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.3 /1k
5.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
9.4 /1k
Crude death rate
9.2 /1k
8.4 /1k
Live births
8,727
6,304
Deaths
9,872
5,667
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.9%
59.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.28
1.59
Population density (persons per km²)
183 /km²
710 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,381,363
626,465
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
8.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.8 yrs
83.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.1%
5.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
378 /100k
376 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
825 /100k
810 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
193 /100k
196 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
25.8 /100k
49.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
517 /100k
472 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,515 /100k
1,061 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
30 /M
26 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.76
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.09
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
1.03
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
—
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
—
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
697 m
33 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
116 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
17 days/yr
2 days/yr