NUTS-3 FRM02 · France
Population
189,3992025
GDP
€6,329M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
72.9%2025
Active firms
59,1482026
Cadastral parcels
670,9002026
Area
4,694.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRM02 · FRK13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Haute-Loire (Opportunity 43). Runner-up: Haute-Corse (35). Contrarian pick: Haute-Corse — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (91) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Haute-Loire
Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 27) — Haute-Corse may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Haute-Loire · Manufacturing → Haute-Loire · Office → Haute-Loire · Residential → Haute-Corse.
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
34.6
42.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
55.3
69.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.4
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
76.0
83.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.7
35.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
26.5
64.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.0
33.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.3% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.3% 5y
2.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,415
€29,191
Population density
40 /km²
46 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,542
5,391
Firms per 1k pop
312
233
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,638M
€5,971M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€94M
€197M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€504M
€1,325M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€191M
€1,180M
GVA — construction (F)
€495M
€452M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,205M
€805M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,200
€23,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,900 PPS
27,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,600
€29,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,838M
€10,591M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€78M
€1,415M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€6,494M
€23,857M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€993M
€1,180M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€71M
€44M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,527M
€1,646M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,812M
€1,547M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,668M
€5,948M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,281
€78,237
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,367M
€1,523M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
73,900
87,100
Self-employed persons
12,000
14,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
3,200
14,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
68.8%
77.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
46.0%
19.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.2%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
81,500
103,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
19,744
16,814
Enterprise births
2,319
1,945
Enterprise deaths
1,935
1,513
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.7%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
2.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
3.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.7%
40.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
28.7%
46.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
5.9%
15.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.7%
26.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.8%
7.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
83.4%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,149,421
831,101
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
615 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
260
917
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,034 kt
5,913 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
0 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
137
400
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
37
93
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
114,688
132,669
Population aged 65+
49,059
60,886
Population aged under 15
25,652
35,516
Median age of population
47.4 yrs
48.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.8%
45.9%
Crude rate of total population change
5.9 /1k
1.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.0 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.0 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
11.7 /1k
Live births
1,325
1,729
Deaths
1,907
2,683
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.1%
72.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.24
1.60
Population density (persons per km²)
41 /km²
46 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
210,202
202,553
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
28.6%
22.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.0 yrs
82.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.6%
17.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
552 /100k
660 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
797 /100k
871 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
5.3 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.8 /100k
16.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
91.9 /100k
267 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
899 /100k
809 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
113 /M
64 /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)
1,582 m
751 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
108 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
15 days/yr
5 days/yr