NUTS-3 NL126 · Netherlands
Population
191,4802025
GDP
€9,740M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,002.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL126 · NL131
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuidoost-Friesland (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Noord-Drenthe (64). Contrarian pick: Noord-Drenthe — leads the set on Digital readiness (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Digital readiness (98) · Governance (91)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zuidoost-Friesland
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 46) — Noord-Drenthe may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuidoost-Friesland 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
63.9
63.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
68.3
69.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.3
57.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.3
68.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
70.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
62.2
70.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€50,867
€44,586
Population density
191 /km²
185 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,741M
€7,887M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€256M
€287M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,547M
€815M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,418M
€582M
GVA — construction (F)
€628M
€390M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,752M
€1,238M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€25,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,700 PPS
38,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,000
€44,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,262M
€4,520M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€616M
€407M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,205M
€10,176M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€630M
€663M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€149M
€128M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,947M
€1,800M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,988M
€2,683M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,865M
€7,070M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,443
€95,232
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,211M
€1,923M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
105,600
96,500
Self-employed persons
18,700
17,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
11,100
4,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
85.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
7.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
104,000
103,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
20,392
20,102
Enterprise births
1,502
1,532
Enterprise deaths
946
989
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.6%
3.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
36.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.1%
40.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.1%
24.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
26.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
10.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.6%
100.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
926,921
3,483,104
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
571 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,658 kt
6,066 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
759
661
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
396
335
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
63 km/1000km²
55 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
17
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)
116,886
118,075
Population aged 65+
46,211
50,358
Population aged under 15
28,383
28,677
Median age of population
46.7 yrs
48.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.5%
42.6%
Crude rate of total population change
3.5 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
9.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
7.7 /1k
Crude death rate
11.6 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
1,668
1,521
Deaths
2,224
2,356
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.8%
66.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
1.59
Population density (persons per km²)
191 /km²
186 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
163,301
130,627
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.9%
13.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
81.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
12.2%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,018 /100k
1,044 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
239 /100k
264 /100k
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.7 /100k
16.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
124 /100k
120 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
655 /100k
840 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
53 /M
55 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.77
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.72
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.73
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.92
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.63
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.142/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
2 m
13 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
38 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr