NUTS-3 FRF24 · France
Population
165,8842025
GDP
€5,317M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.1%2025
Active firms
32,8582026
Cadastral parcels
551,3122026
Area
6,260.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF24 · FRJ21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ariège (Opportunity 40). Runner-up: Haute-Marne (39). Contrarian pick: Haute-Marne — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Freight intensity (88) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 20 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Ariège
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 4) — Haute-Marne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Haute-Marne · Manufacturing → Haute-Marne · Office → Ariège · Residential → Ariège.
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
38.7
39.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.8
59.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
41.5
52.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
79.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.3
34.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
44.0
91.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.2
39.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
2.2% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.9% 5y
3.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,052
€27,411
Population density
26 /km²
32 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,323
7,354
Firms per 1k pop
198
272
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,744M
€3,826M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€383M
€64M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€962M
€570M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€870M
€419M
GVA — construction (F)
€240M
€242M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€829M
€552M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,400
€23,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,000 PPS
25,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,500
€27,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,131M
€27,134M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,531M
€3,274M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,820M
€63,709M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€647M
€831M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€21M
€23M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€987M
€1,118M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,343M
€1,280M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,661M
€3,873M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€79,111
€75,038
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,211M
€957M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
68,500
58,300
Self-employed persons
7,400
10,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,700
6,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
76.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
15.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.9%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
69,200
69,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
8,850
13,089
Enterprise births
1,029
1,548
Enterprise deaths
812
1,440
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
7.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.8%
47.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.0%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.6%
18.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
33.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.6%
14.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
95.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
634,301
1,154,304
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,617 kt
1,081 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
974
349
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
14 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
587
223
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
180
77
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
95,554
89,857
Population aged 65+
45,562
44,680
Population aged under 15
24,768
22,049
Median age of population
48.4 yrs
49.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
47.7%
49.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-7.8 /1k
2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.2 /1k
8.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
12.6 /1k
Live births
1,250
1,024
Deaths
2,190
1,978
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
73.6%
74.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
1.41
Population density (persons per km²)
27 /km²
32 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
120,277
135,122
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.9%
23.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.8 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.9%
18.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
564 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
930 /100k
780 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.4 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
23.3 /100k
16.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
399 /100k
366 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,363 /100k
1,260 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
60 /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)
384 m
1,278 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
50 days/yr
103 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
13 days/yr