NUTS-3 FRF31 · France
Population
730,1032025
GDP
€24,753M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.1%2025
Active firms
131,7572026
Cadastral parcels
923,1372026
Area
5,280.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF31 · FRG02
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Maine-et-Loire (Opportunity 58). Runner-up: Meurthe-et-Moselle (56). Contrarian pick: Meurthe-et-Moselle — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 86).
Why you might not pick Maine-et-Loire
Its weakest dimension is Connectivity (EU pctl 32) — Meurthe-et-Moselle may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Maine-et-Loire 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
56.3
57.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.5
73.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.6
53.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
56.7
68.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.7
32.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
54.3
72.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.6
49.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
2.2% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.2% 5y
0.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,903
€34,129
Population density
138 /km²
117 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,264
1,464
Firms per 1k pop
180
193
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€22,075M
€25,623M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€170M
€720M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,169M
€4,752M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,037M
€4,317M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,200M
€1,761M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,803M
€4,315M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,600
€23,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,100 PPS
31,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,800
€34,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,068M
€32,580M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,764M
€4,197M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€37,107M
€79,082M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,838M
€3,864M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€546M
€520M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,614M
€7,465M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,119M
€6,610M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€21,947M
€25,756M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,004
€80,251
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,548M
€6,425M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
277,200
364,200
Self-employed persons
27,100
40,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,100
51,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.3%
77.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.8%
16.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.8%
6.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
333,500
395,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
40,849
52,234
Enterprise births
5,984
6,906
Enterprise deaths
4,566
5,311
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.7%
6.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.1%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.9%
42.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.6%
54.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.9%
16.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.9%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.7%
8.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,395,691
2,672,577
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.
4,176
4,002
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,818 kt
24,656 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
20 km/1000km²
23 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
572
476
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
76
253
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)
459,560
512,706
Population aged 65+
155,663
184,459
Population aged under 15
114,880
143,131
Median age of population
41.9 yrs
42.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.9%
36.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.4 /1k
3.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.2 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
8.9 /1k
Live births
5,858
7,786
Deaths
7,010
7,448
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.9%
63.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.31
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
139 /km²
117 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
759,466
846,837
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.8%
15.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.8%
11.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
566 /100k
450 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
946 /100k
799 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
223 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
46.1 /100k
33.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
359 /100k
433 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,546 /100k
1,269 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
51 /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)
375 m
65 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
14 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
62 days/yr
20 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr