NUTS-3 FRE21 · France
Population
518,5832025
GDP
€15,037M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.3%2025
Active firms
85,0122026
Cadastral parcels
999,4482026
Area
7,414.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRE21 · FRE23
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Somme (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Aisne (59). Contrarian pick: Aisne — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 69).
#2Aisne
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Freight intensity (69)
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 Somme
Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 20) — Aisne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Somme 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
59.1
61.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.5
58.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.4
43.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
63.7
67.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.7
54.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
50.3
50.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.8
48.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€28,996
€34,664
Population density
70 /km²
91 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,927
1,354
Firms per 1k pop
164
188
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,410M
€17,389M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€871M
€796M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,307M
€3,097M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,116M
€2,709M
GVA — construction (F)
€757M
€877M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,045M
€2,986M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,900
€21,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,500 PPS
31,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,800
€34,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,339M
€13,339M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,885M
€1,885M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€30,350M
€30,350M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,068M
€2,329M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€65M
€252M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,335M
€4,359M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,095M
€5,275M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,369M
€17,326M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,372
€86,993
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,352M
€4,344M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
175,400
228,300
Self-employed persons
18,300
21,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,500
28,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.1%
73.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
28.2%
28.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.4%
7.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
227,300
253,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
24,696
29,563
Enterprise births
3,241
4,035
Enterprise deaths
2,541
3,085
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.5%
35.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.3%
38.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
11.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.6%
24.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
8.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.8%
92.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,883,573
3,241,232
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
19,459 kt
18,962 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,703
2,143
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
29 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
521
381
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
91
60
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
309,732
345,737
Population aged 65+
117,697
125,758
Population aged under 15
91,154
90,684
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
43.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.0%
36.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.8 /1k
-3.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.9 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude death rate
10.9 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
4,696
5,026
Deaths
5,674
5,979
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.4%
62.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
70 /km²
92 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
440,527
574,428
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
19.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
81.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
545 /100k
545 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
977 /100k
977 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.7 /100k
56.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
447 /100k
328 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,494 /100k
1,688 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
54 /M
54 /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)
70 m
111 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
34 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr