NUTS-3 FRF21 · France
Population
262,9922025
GDP
€8,501M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.1%2025
Active firms
48,7342026
Cadastral parcels
575,5902026
Area
5,248.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF21 · FRG03
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Mayenne (51). Contrarian pick: Mayenne — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 86).
Why you might not pick Ardennes
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 8) — Mayenne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ardennes 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
53.6
51.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.3
57.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.4
58.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
85.3
76.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
50.0
36.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
44.0
72.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.0
43.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.8% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,325
€37,970
Population density
50 /km²
58 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,189
2,018
Firms per 1k pop
185
207
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,582M
€10,324M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€414M
€580M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,951M
€2,295M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,224M
€2,042M
GVA — construction (F)
€383M
€686M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,403M
€1,722M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,400
€23,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,400 PPS
34,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
€37,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,131M
€32,580M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,531M
€4,197M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,820M
€79,082M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€958M
€1,204M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€570M
€192M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,437M
€2,762M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,994M
€2,279M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,452M
€10,373M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,767
€88,702
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,936M
€2,588M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,400
132,700
Self-employed persons
11,400
16,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
23,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
77.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
16.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
6.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
112,900
138,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,991
16,673
Enterprise births
1,798
2,040
Enterprise deaths
1,390
1,685
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
6.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.8%
42.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.0%
54.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.6%
16.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.6%
8.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,672
459,585
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
611 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,414
1,924
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,922 kt
15,345 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
23 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
538
633
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
232
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
155,823
179,395
Population aged 65+
63,919
73,073
Population aged under 15
43,250
51,713
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
44.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
40.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.4 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
-0.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
2,161
2,841
Deaths
2,837
3,242
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.8%
69.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.85
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
59 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
196,030
265,955
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.9%
15.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.8 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.9%
11.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
450 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
930 /100k
799 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
223 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.4 /100k
21.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
417 /100k
393 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
971 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /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)
192 m
114 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
24 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr