NUTS-3 FRD12 · France
Population
497,9282025
GDP
€17,143M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.4%2025
Active firms
100,6072026
Cadastral parcels
1,038,3762026
Area
6,024.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRD12 · FRJ27
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Manche (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Tarn (49). Contrarian pick: Tarn — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 92).
Why you might not pick Manche
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 8) — Tarn may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Manche 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
49.3
48.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.3
67.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.1
59.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
71.0
69.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
20.7
40.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.8
91.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.2
42.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.3% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.3% 5y
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,429
€28,420
Population density
83 /km²
69 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,085
2,632
Firms per 1k pop
202
233
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,301M
€10,161M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€615M
€211M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,963M
€1,779M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,841M
€1,443M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,122M
€665M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,233M
€1,499M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,200
€23,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,900 PPS
26,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,600
€28,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,208M
€27,134M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,469M
€3,274M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,527M
€63,709M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,054M
€1,781M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€158M
€159M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,490M
€2,884M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,878M
€3,124M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,230M
€10,277M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,755
€80,051
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,818M
€2,540M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
208,600
145,000
Self-employed persons
25,900
23,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,900
15,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.8%
76.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
15.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.5%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
218,600
179,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,386
31,462
Enterprise births
3,254
3,962
Enterprise deaths
2,627
3,214
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.6%
6.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.4%
7.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.4%
47.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
50.8%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.7%
18.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.1%
33.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
14.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
90.7%
95.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,213,459
887,501
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,071 kt
8,442 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,061
1,858
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
16 km/1000km²
14 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
213
464
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
241
65
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
285,826
231,030
Population aged 65+
136,561
109,362
Population aged under 15
75,541
60,354
Median age of population
48.4 yrs
48.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
47.8%
47.3%
Crude rate of total population change
0.5 /1k
4.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.9 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
11.2 /1k
Live births
3,948
2,818
Deaths
6,152
4,473
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
74.2%
73.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
83 /km²
70 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
411,661
358,056
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.9%
23.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.8%
18.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
557 /100k
564 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
894 /100k
780 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
230 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.3 /100k
25.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
269 /100k
382 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
931 /100k
926 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
63 /M
60 /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)
67 m
195 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
24 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
25 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
7 days/yr