NUTS-3 FRJ24 · France
Population
192,4422025
GDP
€5,100M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.3%2025
Active firms
59,4632026
Cadastral parcels
868,1152026
Area
6,307.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ24 · ITC13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Biella (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Gers (39). Contrarian pick: Gers — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 97).
#1Biella
Strengths
Industrial base (82) · Connectivity (71)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 27 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Biella
Long-run slide: down 27 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 15) — Gers may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Biella · Manufacturing → Biella · Office → Gers · Residential → Gers.
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
38.9
49.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.3
30.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.9
54.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
97.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
29.7
71.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
91.8
18.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
31.8
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.4% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.7% 5y
1.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€26,503
€33,502
Population density
31 /km²
185 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
4,511
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
309
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,543M
€5,066M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€262M
€45M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€554M
€1,456M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€458M
€1,356M
GVA — construction (F)
€312M
€267M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€697M
€905M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,600
€24,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,200 PPS
34,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€26,300
€33,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,134M
€44,851M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,274M
€10,323M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€63,709M
€61,911M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€688M
€734M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€90M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,172M
€1,568M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,546M
€824M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,602M
€5,167M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€70,624
€82,665
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,137M
€1,615M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
73,600
69,300
Self-employed persons
14,400
16,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,100
17,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.9%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.9%
19.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.6%
6.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
83,900
76,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,386
12,839
Enterprise births
1,866
814
Enterprise deaths
1,558
674
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.4%
3.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.1%
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.1%
3.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
47.9%
21.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
29.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.2%
10.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
33.7%
16.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
14.7%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
783,681
339,609
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
723 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
309
1,447
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,281 kt
3,164 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
14 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
161
860
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
78
50
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
108,056
101,001
Population aged 65+
57,183
51,066
Population aged under 15
27,203
16,261
Median age of population
51.4 yrs
53.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
52.9%
50.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.5 /1k
-1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
4.7 /1k
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
14.7 /1k
Live births
1,243
792
Deaths
2,587
2,480
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
78.1%
66.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.05
Population density (persons per km²)
31 /km²
186 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
159,593
109,051
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.3%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.7 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.9%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
564 /100k
353 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
780 /100k
892 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.5 /100k
27.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
562 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
984 /100k
566 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
40 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
201 m
413 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
26 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
18 days/yr
49 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
18 days/yr