NUTS-3 FR104 · France
Population
1,356,1142025
GDP
€63,199M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.5%2025
Active firms
255,8092026
Cadastral parcels
582,6842026
Area
1,815.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FR104 · FR103
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Yvelines (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Essonne (72). Contrarian pick: Essonne — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 91).
#1Yvelines
Strengths
Talent & skills (95) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
#2Essonne
Strengths
Talent & skills (95) · Demographic outlook (91)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Yvelines
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 7) — Essonne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Essonne · Manufacturing → Yvelines · Office → Essonne · Residential → Essonne.
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
72.3
73.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
67.0
65.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.5
69.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
43.7
75.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.0
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
94.5
94.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.6
31.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€46,603
€46,033
Population density
747 /km²
654 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
430
445
Firms per 1k pop
189
205
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€56,510M
€61,960M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€52M
€52M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,431M
€9,087M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,473M
€7,889M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,629M
€3,917M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€13,531M
€12,454M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,600
€29,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,600 PPS
43,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,300
€46,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€192,308M
€192,308M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€9,999M
€9,999M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€456,581M
€456,581M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€9,004M
€12,263M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2,027M
€3,991M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€21,899M
€23,917M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€11,968M
€12,534M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€58,225M
€63,809M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€117,986
€118,395
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€14,268M
€15,637M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
545,900
596,200
Self-employed persons
42,800
55,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,400
64,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.6%
76.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
21.2%
21.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.8%
8.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
666,600
729,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
85,522
107,863
Enterprise births
14,081
16,577
Enterprise deaths
10,884
13,406
3-year enterprise survival rate
7.1%
6.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.9%
2.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
9.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.0%
3.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
58.6%
58.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
72.7%
72.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.0%
18.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
40.1%
40.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
14.1%
14.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.2%
96.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,781,352
3,244,255
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
433 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
22,790 kt
13,895 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
5,783
7,124
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
52 km/1000km²
52 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
426
474
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
23
35
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)
871,832
954,362
Population aged 65+
219,965
264,743
Population aged under 15
264,317
285,460
Median age of population
38.2 yrs
40.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.2%
27.7%
Crude rate of total population change
6.4 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.3 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
12.6 /1k
11.3 /1k
Crude death rate
6.6 /1k
6.7 /1k
Live births
17,072
17,002
Deaths
8,880
10,058
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.5%
57.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.91
1.81
Population density (persons per km²)
747 /km²
660 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,499,497
1,449,606
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
20.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.6 yrs
84.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.9%
16.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
473 /100k
473 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
761 /100k
761 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
192 /100k
192 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
94.2 /100k
55.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
387 /100k
353 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,952 /100k
1,563 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
21 /M
21 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
119 m
106 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
32 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr