NUTS-3 FRL04 · France
Population
2,108,9632025
GDP
€96,176M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.4%2025
Active firms
579,3362026
Cadastral parcels
958,0262026
Area
5,270.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRL04 · HU110
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Budapest (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Bouches-du-Rhône (65). Contrarian pick: Bouches-du-Rhône — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
#1Budapest
Strengths
Economic base (96) · Talent & skills (94)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Economic base (79)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Budapest
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 2) — Bouches-du-Rhône may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Budapest 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
64.7
65.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
40.0
24.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.8
53.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
28.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
63.0
61.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
75.8
94.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.8
63.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.2% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.8% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,603
€47,591
Population density
400 /km²
3,207 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
454
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
275
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€85,779M
€68,915M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€361M
€123M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€10,635M
€8,345M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€7,031M
€5,511M
GVA — construction (F)
€4,733M
€2,529M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€18,551M
€20,091M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,900
€18,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,500 PPS
67,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,200
€47,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,335M
€12,429M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,075M
€1,051M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€105,791M
€31,410M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€11,026M
€8,594M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€5,060M
€6,915M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€26,702M
€25,310M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€24,797M
€12,517M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€85,906M
€60,734M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€97,598
€50,811
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€22,125M
€11,934M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
1,004,300
1,668,320
Self-employed persons
113,700
67,050
Employment in manufacturing (C)
65,800
119,430
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.4%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
22.6%
13.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
3.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
953,500
949,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
195,430
245,891
Enterprise births
28,104
23,759
Enterprise deaths
22,477
6,945
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.8%
5.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.1%
2.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
12.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
4.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.5%
59.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
52.3%
62.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.2%
16.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.8%
46.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
16.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
96.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
12,127,565
11,677,423
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
429 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
44,981 kt
13,227 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
8,948
5,383
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
24 km/1000km²
120 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
424
319
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
11
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)
1,299,752
1,128,114
Population aged 65+
468,755
350,479
Population aged under 15
340,456
206,616
Median age of population
42.9 yrs
44.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.1%
31.1%
Crude rate of total population change
5.0 /1k
-0.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.2 /1k
4.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.7 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
9.0 /1k
12.2 /1k
Live births
22,488
12,634
Deaths
18,836
20,564
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.3%
49.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.07
Population density (persons per km²)
443 /km²
3,305 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
2,182,517
1,540,845
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.7%
10.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.8 yrs
78.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.1%
7.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
625 /100k
930 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
851 /100k
1,374 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
202 /100k
291 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.8 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
179 /100k
10.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
646 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
3,227 /100k
928 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
56 /M
25 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.171/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
53 m
142 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
26 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
72 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
4 days/yr