NUTS-3 FRL01 · France
Population
169,5632025
GDP
€5,412M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.4%2025
Active firms
52,9222026
Cadastral parcels
604,7932026
Area
7,006.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRL01 · BE255
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Oostende (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (45). Contrarian pick: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Talent & skills (82) · Connectivity (72)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (88)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Oostende
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 4) — Alpes-de-Haute-Provence may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Oostende 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
45.3
61.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.0
68.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.7
63.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
87.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
45.0
72.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
75.8
82.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.6
64.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
3.7% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.1% 5y
1.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,919
€44,419
Population density
24 /km²
552 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,567
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
312
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,828M
€6,484M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€92M
€55M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€546M
€1,478M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€413M
€682M
GVA — construction (F)
€312M
€440M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€775M
€1,280M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,900
€31,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,600 PPS
39,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,100
€44,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,335M
€16,710M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,075M
€2,304M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€105,791M
€29,133M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,099M
€1,030M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€27M
€51M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,678M
€1,764M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,426M
€1,468M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,834M
€6,079M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€79,831
€137,114
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,245M
€1,954M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
69,100
53,900
Self-employed persons
12,200
11,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,200
4,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.4%
76.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
22.6%
11.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.2%
3.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
70,600
72,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,057
—
Enterprise births
1,953
—
Enterprise deaths
1,594
—
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
—
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.1%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.5%
42.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
52.3%
51.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.2%
18.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.8%
30.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
10.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,974,493
3,456,234
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
512 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,124 kt
2,850 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,210
580
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
24 km/1000km²
59 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
714
360
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
100
4
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
96,165
93,568
Population aged 65+
47,907
47,025
Population aged under 15
25,491
20,691
Median age of population
49.8 yrs
50.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
49.8%
50.3%
Crude rate of total population change
4.3 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.8 /1k
11.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
12.0 /1k
13.5 /1k
Live births
1,276
1,203
Deaths
2,032
2,164
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
76.3%
72.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
24 /km²
551 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
157,085
130,417
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.7%
9.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.8 yrs
83.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.1%
5.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
625 /100k
634 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
851 /100k
849 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
202 /100k
205 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
27.3 /100k
59.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
425 /100k
263 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,300 /100k
1,849 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
56 /M
43 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,194 m
2 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
122 days/yr
20 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
10 days/yr
2 days/yr