NUTS-3 FRF12 · France
Population
770,7732025
GDP
€26,791M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms
156,3372026
Cadastral parcels
1,013,5382026
Area
3,539 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF12 · FRK25
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Haut-Rhin (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Loire (58). Contrarian pick: Loire — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 90).
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Talent & skills (78)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Haut-Rhin
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 34) — Loire may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Haut-Rhin · Manufacturing → Haut-Rhin · Office → Loire · Residential → Loire.
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
66.3
57.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
58.8
66.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.0
59.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
47.7
48.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.7
55.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
77.5
89.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
49.2
38.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.0% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.3% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,758
€33,337
Population density
218 /km²
161 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,315
1,392
Firms per 1k pop
203
206
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,938M
€23,119M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€510M
€259M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,534M
€4,501M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,727M
€4,101M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,606M
€1,652M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,151M
€3,418M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,200
€24,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,000 PPS
30,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,700
€33,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,352M
€66,409M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,573M
€8,444M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€39,199M
€150,675M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,698M
€4,096M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€249M
€337M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,287M
€6,982M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,852M
€6,306M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€23,961M
€23,133M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,592
€87,079
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,912M
€5,839M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
298,100
302,900
Self-employed persons
30,100
35,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
41,900
45,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.7%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
10.2%
16.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.0%
7.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
358,800
357,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
48,590
54,236
Enterprise births
6,262
7,013
Enterprise deaths
4,992
5,575
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.2%
6.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
3.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
5.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
2.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.0%
49.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.2%
60.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.5%
17.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.2%
34.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.0%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.7%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,917,318
931,307
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,736 kt
13,801 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,321
5,979
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
36 km/1000km²
29 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
431
770
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
36
68
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
475,311
460,155
Population aged 65+
172,043
184,198
Population aged under 15
123,419
131,976
Median age of population
44.5 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
40.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.1 /1k
1.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.9 /1k
2.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
9.4 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
10.4 /1k
Live births
6,633
7,304
Deaths
7,400
8,082
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.2%
68.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.71
Population density (persons per km²)
220 /km²
163 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
713,931
786,693
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.0%
18.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.9 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.2%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
507 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
842 /100k
771 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
218 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.0 /100k
90.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
291 /100k
611 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,255 /100k
1,739 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /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)
251 m
363 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
18 days/yr
28 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
49 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr