NUTS-3 FRK21 · France
Population
692,1662025
GDP
€21,528M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.1%2025
Active firms
133,2652026
Cadastral parcels
1,375,9972026
Area
5,783.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRK21 · FRF31
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ain (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Meurthe-et-Moselle (56). Contrarian pick: Meurthe-et-Moselle — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 86).
#1Ain
Strengths
Talent & skills (90) · Energy cost (88)
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 Ain
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 35) — Meurthe-et-Moselle may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ain 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
63.8
56.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
73.8
49.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.1
42.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
68.7
56.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
59.7
48.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
89.8
54.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.0
46.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
2.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,102
€33,903
Population density
120 /km²
138 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,988
1,264
Firms per 1k pop
193
180
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€19,246M
€22,075M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€277M
€170M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,922M
€3,169M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,635M
€2,037M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,326M
€1,200M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,288M
€3,803M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,600
€22,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,100 PPS
31,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,600
€33,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€66,409M
€16,068M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€8,444M
€1,764M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€150,675M
€37,107M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,671M
€3,838M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€181M
€546M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,616M
€6,614M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,817M
€7,119M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€19,242M
€21,947M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€92,456
€91,004
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,857M
€5,548M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
237,300
277,200
Self-employed persons
29,900
27,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
39,200
22,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
72.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.9%
24.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
7.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
331,500
333,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
45,285
40,849
Enterprise births
6,149
5,984
Enterprise deaths
4,795
4,566
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.3%
6.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.0%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.6%
2.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.2%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
49.4%
35.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
60.1%
48.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.4%
10.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
34.0%
24.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
6.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,369,876
1,395,691
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,993 kt
16,818 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,108
4,176
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
20 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
449
572
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
39
76
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
426,826
459,560
Population aged 65+
134,758
155,663
Population aged under 15
130,582
114,880
Median age of population
41.6 yrs
41.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.6%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
9.1 /1k
-1.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
0.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
7.8 /1k
9.6 /1k
Live births
6,214
5,858
Deaths
5,405
7,010
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.2%
58.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.31
Population density (persons per km²)
123 /km²
139 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
708,642
759,466
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.0%
20.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.2 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.0%
15.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
511 /100k
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
771 /100k
946 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
204 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
24.9 /100k
46.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
572 /100k
359 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,245 /100k
1,546 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
51 /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)
273 m
375 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
45 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
3 days/yr