NUTS-3 NL128 · Netherlands
Population
142,7692025
GDP
€6,013M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,454 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL128 · NL133
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuidwest-Drenthe (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Zuidwest-Friesland (59). Contrarian pick: Zuidwest-Friesland — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 86).
Why you might not pick Zuidwest-Drenthe
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 39) — Zuidwest-Friesland may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zuidwest-Drenthe · Manufacturing → Zuidwest-Drenthe · Office → Zuidwest-Drenthe · Residential → Zuidwest-Friesland.
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
59.2
62.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
70.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.1
58.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
86.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
54.7
62.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
70.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.6
68.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
1.6% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,115
€49,395
Population density
98 /km²
200 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,396M
€6,110M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€246M
€155M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,239M
€1,086M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€984M
€905M
GVA — construction (F)
€292M
€342M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€999M
€1,186M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€25,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,300 PPS
42,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,300
€49,700
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)
€475M
€443M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€47M
€128M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,043M
€1,539M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,134M
€1,522M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€5,477M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€91,859
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€1,490M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
69,500
77,500
Self-employed persons
17,000
13,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,400
6,600
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)
—
3.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
73,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,417
14,524
Enterprise births
1,226
1,070
Enterprise deaths
742
681
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.5%
5.8%
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)
2,039,120
1,074,479
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
571 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
659
456
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,446 kt
6,454 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
63 km/1000km²
55 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
462
331
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
71
42
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)
85,773
84,146
Population aged 65+
35,764
33,732
Population aged under 15
21,232
19,954
Median age of population
47.7 yrs
46.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.7%
40.1%
Crude rate of total population change
2.9 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.2 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
1,202
1,116
Deaths
1,524
1,522
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
66.4%
63.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
162 /km²
198 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
116,771
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
—
11.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
186 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
—
798 /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
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.72
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.73
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.92
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
—
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
11 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
38 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr