NUTS-3 FRG04 · France
Population
565,4032025
GDP
€17,882M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms
98,4952026
Cadastral parcels
787,9872026
Area
6,251.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRG04 · FRI34
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Sarthe (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Vienne (50). Contrarian pick: Vienne — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 88).
#1Sarthe
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (81)
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 Sarthe
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 23) — Vienne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Vienne · Manufacturing → Sarthe · Office → Vienne · Residential → Vienne.
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
54.3
50.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
66.5
48.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.4
48.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
81.0
54.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
33.3
33.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
72.3
67.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
33.6
47.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
3.1% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.9% 5y
5.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,627
€37,685
Population density
90 /km²
62 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,394
2,404
Firms per 1k pop
174
207
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,970M
€14,693M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€459M
€374M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,978M
€3,300M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,757M
€2,033M
GVA — construction (F)
€991M
€794M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,855M
€2,017M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,300
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,000 PPS
34,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,500
€37,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€32,580M
€14,628M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,197M
€1,666M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€79,082M
€31,119M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,384M
€1,982M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€200M
€206M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,424M
€3,647M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,265M
€4,562M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€16,060M
€14,667M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,826
€92,331
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,006M
€3,802M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
231,200
181,900
Self-employed persons
22,800
20,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
35,800
17,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.1%
74.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.1%
19.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.6%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
258,100
195,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,733
26,549
Enterprise births
3,921
3,610
Enterprise deaths
2,972
2,786
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.1%
6.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.3%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
1.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.2%
40.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
54.9%
46.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.8%
13.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.4%
8.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
95.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,423,700
3,652,108
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.
2,142
2,679
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,189 kt
12,425 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
379
613
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
175
218
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
334,744
265,018
Population aged 65+
135,972
105,097
Population aged under 15
94,687
67,177
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
44.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.6%
39.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.5 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.2 /1k
0.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.6 /1k
10.9 /1k
Live births
5,088
3,631
Deaths
6,021
4,774
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.9%
65.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.70
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
91 /km²
62 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
488,143
470,732
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.7%
17.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.5%
13.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
450 /100k
493 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
799 /100k
848 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
223 /100k
226 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
57.4 /100k
43.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
485 /100k
505 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,302 /100k
1,435 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
68 /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)
108 m
136 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
17 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
25 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr