NUTS-3 FRE22 · France
Population
827,9282025
GDP
€26,284M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.3%2025
Active firms
142,3602026
Cadastral parcels
992,2812026
Area
5,892.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRE22 · FRK21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Oise (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Ain (64). Contrarian pick: Ain — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 90).
#1Oise
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Connectivity (80)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Ain
Strengths
Talent & skills (90) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Oise
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 20) — Ain may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Oise · Manufacturing → Ain · Office → Ain · Residential → Ain.
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
65.8
63.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.8
73.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
41.3
60.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.7
68.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.3
59.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
50.3
89.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.0
55.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,747
€31,102
Population density
141 /km²
120 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,199
1,988
Firms per 1k pop
172
193
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,492M
€19,246M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€406M
€277M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,287M
€4,922M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,883M
€3,635M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,354M
€1,326M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,237M
€3,288M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,900
€24,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,100 PPS
29,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,600
€31,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,339M
€66,409M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,885M
€8,444M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€30,350M
€150,675M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,823M
€3,671M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€336M
€181M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,275M
€5,616M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,933M
€3,817M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€23,370M
€19,242M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€92,434
€92,456
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,860M
€4,857M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
289,800
237,300
Self-employed persons
28,500
29,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,600
39,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.1%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
28.2%
16.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.4%
7.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
377,400
331,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
46,118
45,285
Enterprise births
6,621
6,149
Enterprise deaths
4,980
4,795
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.3%
6.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
3.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
5.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.5%
49.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.3%
60.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
17.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.6%
34.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.8%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,716,946
2,369,876
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
26,659 kt
16,993 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
4,907
3,108
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).
593
449
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
22
39
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
514,221
426,826
Population aged 65+
157,169
134,758
Population aged under 15
156,538
130,582
Median age of population
41.2 yrs
41.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.6%
31.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.2 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.2 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.5 /1k
7.8 /1k
Live births
8,455
6,214
Deaths
7,071
5,405
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.0%
62.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.76
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
141 /km²
123 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
765,528
708,642
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
18.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
545 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
977 /100k
771 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
51.3 /100k
24.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
339 /100k
572 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,616 /100k
1,245 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
54 /M
47 /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)
80 m
273 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
24 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
45 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
1 days/yr
11 days/yr