NUTS-3 FRJ21 · France
Population
156,5862025
GDP
€4,292M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.3%2025
Active firms
42,5482026
Cadastral parcels
1,151,5802026
Area
4,907.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ21 · FRF24
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
39.6
38.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.8
49.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.7
41.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
79.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.3
35.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
91.8
44.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.6
44.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.1% 5y
9.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€27,411
€32,052
Population density
32 /km²
26 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
7,354
3,323
Firms per 1k pop
272
198
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,826M
€4,744M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€64M
€383M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€570M
€962M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€419M
€870M
GVA — construction (F)
€242M
€240M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€552M
€829M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,600
€22,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,300 PPS
29,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€27,500
€31,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,134M
€11,131M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,274M
€1,531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€63,709M
€22,820M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€831M
€647M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€23M
€21M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,118M
€987M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,280M
€1,343M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,873M
€4,661M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€75,038
€79,111
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€957M
€1,211M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
58,300
68,500
Self-employed persons
10,500
7,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,500
10,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.9%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.9%
18.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.4%
6.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
69,800
69,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,089
8,850
Enterprise births
1,548
1,029
Enterprise deaths
1,440
812
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.5%
5.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.1%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.1%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
47.9%
33.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
41.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.2%
13.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
33.7%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
14.7%
6.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,154,304
634,301
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,081 kt
8,617 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
349
974
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
14 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
223
587
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
77
180
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)
89,857
95,554
Population aged 65+
44,680
45,562
Population aged under 15
22,049
24,768
Median age of population
49.7 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
49.7%
47.7%
Crude rate of total population change
2.7 /1k
-7.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.8 /1k
-2.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
12.6 /1k
13.2 /1k
Live births
1,024
1,250
Deaths
1,978
2,190
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
74.3%
73.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.41
1.58
Population density (persons per km²)
32 /km²
27 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
135,122
120,277
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.3%
22.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.7 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.9%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
564 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
780 /100k
930 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
2.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.0 /100k
23.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
366 /100k
399 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,260 /100k
1,363 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
80 /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)
1,278 m
384 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
103 days/yr
50 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
13 days/yr
5 days/yr