NUTS-3 FRE12 · France
Population
1,451,9762025
GDP
€42,747M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.8%2025
Active firms
221,7382026
Cadastral parcels
1,491,9092026
Area
6,710.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRE12 · FRJ13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pas-de-Calais (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Hérault (58). Contrarian pick: Hérault — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 94).
#2Hérault
Strengths
Demographic outlook (94) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Pas-de-Calais
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 15) — Hérault may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Pas-de-Calais · Manufacturing → Pas-de-Calais · Office → Hérault · Residential → Hérault.
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
61.9
58.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.0
59.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
43.5
40.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
59.3
22.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
61.0
48.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
73.3
67.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.0
58.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,441
€36,884
Population density
216 /km²
201 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,028
1,062
Firms per 1k pop
153
302
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€38,131M
€41,226M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€887M
€265M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€6,650M
€4,101M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€5,240M
€1,813M
GVA — construction (F)
€2,738M
€2,330M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,813M
€8,661M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,200
€22,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,000 PPS
34,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,300
€37,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€28,402M
€22,266M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,256M
€1,184M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€76,179M
€47,206M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€5,558M
€7,183M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€406M
€2,206M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€9,479M
€13,859M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€11,565M
€12,011M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€38,279M
€41,293M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,605
€90,185
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,038M
€10,662M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
527,400
522,300
Self-employed persons
50,100
79,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
57,200
22,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.2%
72.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
21.4%
25.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
9.0%
8.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
647,800
555,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
70,001
121,001
Enterprise births
9,305
17,024
Enterprise deaths
7,413
13,794
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.9%
2.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.9%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.0%
42.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.6%
48.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.9%
13.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.2%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
7.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.8%
93.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,185,081
16,493,857
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
42,538 kt
15,249 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
9,207
4,923
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
50 km/1000km²
22 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
634
393
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
62
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
886,378
768,990
Population aged 65+
309,532
292,981
Population aged under 15
256,066
191,117
Median age of population
42.5 yrs
43.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.9%
38.1%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.0 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.3 /1k
9.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.6 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.4 /1k
9.4 /1k
Live births
13,903
10,735
Deaths
15,055
11,783
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.8%
63.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
218 /km²
206 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,312,662
1,584,288
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
26.9%
25.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.9%
20.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
617 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,007 /100k
853 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
260 /100k
227 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
44.9 /100k
105 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
342 /100k
542 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,292 /100k
2,497 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
66 /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)
142 m
280 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
31 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
34 days/yr
14 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
11 days/yr