NUTS-3 NL127 · Netherlands
Population
329,9732025
GDP
€14,397M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,545.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL127 · FRE21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Noord-Friesland (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Aisne (59). Contrarian pick: Aisne — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
#2Aisne
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Freight intensity (69)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Noord-Friesland
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 20) — Aisne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Noord-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
63.2
59.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
62.5
57.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.3
40.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
83.3
63.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
55.0
51.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
50.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.6
47.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
2.4% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€43,629
€28,996
Population density
214 /km²
70 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
1,927
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
164
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€12,920M
€13,410M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€461M
€871M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,009M
€2,307M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,270M
€2,116M
GVA — construction (F)
€759M
€757M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,266M
€2,045M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€21,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,500 PPS
26,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€43,800
€28,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,262M
€13,339M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€616M
€1,885M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,205M
€30,350M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€972M
€2,068M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€300M
€65M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,251M
€3,335M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,881M
€4,095M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€13,369M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€87,372
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€3,352M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
166,600
175,400
Self-employed persons
32,600
18,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,200
20,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
73.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
28.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
—
7.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
227,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
35,353
24,696
Enterprise births
3,044
3,241
Enterprise deaths
1,581
2,541
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.5%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.6%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
35.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.1%
38.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.1%
11.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
24.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
8.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.6%
92.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,093,770
1,883,573
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
—
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,441 kt
19,459 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,256
2,703
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
381
521
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
63 km/1000km²
29 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
51
91
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)
207,386
309,732
Population aged 65+
73,953
117,697
Population aged under 15
48,634
91,154
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.7%
38.0%
Crude rate of total population change
3.8 /1k
-4.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.5 /1k
-2.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.3 /1k
10.9 /1k
Live births
2,814
4,696
Deaths
3,398
5,674
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.1%
67.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.72
Population density (persons per km²)
231 /km²
70 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
440,527
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.9%
19.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
81.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
545 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,018 /100k
977 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
239 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
—
35.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
447 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
—
1,494 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
53 /M
54 /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)
-1 m
70 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
36 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr