NUTS-3 FRC22 · France
Population
256,9022025
GDP
€8,477M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.7%2025
Active firms
58,5332026
Cadastral parcels
641,5672026
Area
5,048.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRC22 · FRF21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Jura (46). Contrarian pick: Jura — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 75).
#2Jura
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (85)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Ardennes
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 8) — Jura may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ardennes · Manufacturing → Jura · Office → Jura · Residential → Jura.
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
53.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.3
49.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.0
45.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
85.0
85.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
44.7
50.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.5
44.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
23.0
50.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.7% 5y
9.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,998
€32,325
Population density
51 /km²
50 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,497
2,189
Firms per 1k pop
228
185
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,577M
€7,582M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€246M
€414M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,917M
€1,951M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,809M
€1,224M
GVA — construction (F)
€501M
€383M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,167M
€1,403M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,700
€22,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,200 PPS
29,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,800
€31,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,575M
€11,131M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,453M
€1,531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,541M
€22,820M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,239M
€958M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€45M
€570M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,879M
€1,437M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,867M
€1,994M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,556M
€7,452M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,655
€93,767
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,957M
€1,936M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
99,700
92,400
Self-employed persons
12,600
11,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
17,400
14,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.5%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.5%
18.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.1%
7.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
110,000
112,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,501
13,991
Enterprise births
2,147
1,798
Enterprise deaths
1,683
1,390
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.7%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.5%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.8%
33.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.2%
41.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.7%
13.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.8%
6.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,930,962
464,672
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,617 kt
9,922 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
762
1,414
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
13 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
297
538
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
66
86
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
150,286
155,823
Population aged 65+
66,065
63,919
Population aged under 15
40,551
43,250
Median age of population
47.1 yrs
45.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.0%
41.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.7 /1k
-5.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.5 /1k
-2.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.6 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
1,895
2,161
Deaths
2,975
2,837
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
70.9%
68.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
51 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
215,359
196,030
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.4%
22.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.1%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
506 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
930 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
19.4 /100k
37.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
320 /100k
417 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,119 /100k
1,250 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
64 /M
80 /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)
550 m
192 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
64 days/yr
46 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
20 days/yr
5 days/yr