NUTS-3 NL114 · Netherlands
Population
139,1912025
GDP
€4,856M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
769.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL114 · FRF32
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Oost-Groningen (Opportunity 50). Runner-up: Meuse (38). Contrarian pick: Meuse — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
#2Meuse
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Freight intensity (73)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Oost-Groningen
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 38) — Meuse may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Oost-Groningen 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
50.4
38.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.5
51.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.3
42.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
64.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
67.0
48.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
91.5
54.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.2
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
0.8% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
2.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,888
€26,823
Population density
181 /km²
29 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
3,028
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
191
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,358M
€4,264M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€216M
€252M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€962M
€844M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€635M
€766M
GVA — construction (F)
€297M
€298M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€685M
€548M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,100
€22,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,200 PPS
24,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,200
€26,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,193M
€16,068M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€504M
€1,764M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,058M
€37,107M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€353M
€685M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€73M
€18M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€820M
€1,026M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,324M
€1,296M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€4,238M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€76,959
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€1,071M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
59,000
63,300
Self-employed persons
11,400
7,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,700
8,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
72.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.7%
24.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
—
7.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
75,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,850
8,969
Enterprise births
946
1,122
Enterprise deaths
594
906
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.1%
5.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.3%
2.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
45.0%
35.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
60.3%
48.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
26.8%
10.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
31.2%
24.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.7%
6.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.5%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
565,236
334,198
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
507 /1k
—
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,235 kt
7,108 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
672
1,344
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
46 km/1000km²
20 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
483
754
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
89
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)
84,125
104,578
Population aged 65+
36,050
45,997
Population aged under 15
19,016
27,630
Median age of population
48.7 yrs
47.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
44.0%
Crude rate of total population change
9.2 /1k
-6.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
14.8 /1k
-1.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
12.1 /1k
Live births
1,062
1,297
Deaths
1,837
2,164
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.5%
70.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
186 /km²
29 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
134,226
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.4%
20.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.6%
15.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,078 /100k
946 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
264 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
—
21.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
410 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
—
1,219 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
40 /M
51 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
—
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
7 m
208 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
47 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr