NUTS-3 FRD13 · France
Population
272,6272025
GDP
€8,028M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.4%2025
Active firms
57,1262026
Cadastral parcels
563,1952026
Area
6,141.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRD13 · FRJ22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Orne (Opportunity 44). Runner-up: Aveyron (43). Contrarian pick: Aveyron — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 92).
#1Orne
Strengths
Air quality (90) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Orne
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 8) — Aveyron may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Aveyron · Manufacturing → Orne · Office → Aveyron · Residential → Aveyron.
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
43.5
43.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.5
69.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
48.7
62.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
90.0
82.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
32.3
26.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.8
91.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
22.4
30.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.3% 5y
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,448
€31,187
Population density
44 /km²
32 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,066
4,627
Firms per 1k pop
210
276
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,163M
€7,755M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€368M
€332M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,479M
€1,253M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,359M
€989M
GVA — construction (F)
€500M
€638M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,007M
€1,401M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,200
€23,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,100 PPS
28,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,400
€31,000
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)
€1,111M
€1,414M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€47M
€129M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,664M
€2,085M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,146M
€2,046M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,133M
€7,843M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€75,411
€76,955
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,788M
€1,938M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
108,500
115,100
Self-employed persons
14,200
22,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
17,500
13,700
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)
117,700
123,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
15,303
22,499
Enterprise births
1,734
2,547
Enterprise deaths
1,458
2,143
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.1%
5.4%
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)
578,069
2,247,181
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,118 kt
10,130 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
913
1,003
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).
335
360
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
171
120
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
153,919
158,513
Population aged 65+
77,450
80,383
Population aged under 15
41,258
39,795
Median age of population
49.4 yrs
50.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.3%
50.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.9 /1k
-1.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.6 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
13.3 /1k
Live births
2,150
1,869
Deaths
3,642
3,699
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
77.1%
75.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.73
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
45 /km²
32 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
216,542
242,868
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
0.4 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
29.6 /100k
14.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
500 /100k
284 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,070 /100k
766 /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)
266 m
604 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
13 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
30 days/yr
42 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
7 days/yr