NUTS-3 NL133 · Netherlands
Population
137,8322025
GDP
€6,808M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
690.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL133 · NL128
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
62.9
59.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
70.5
51.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.8
62.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
86.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.0
54.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.5
79.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
68.6
60.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
—
Population
0.7% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
—
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,395
€42,115
Population density
200 /km²
98 /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)
€6,110M
€5,396M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€155M
€246M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,086M
€1,239M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€905M
€984M
GVA — construction (F)
€342M
€292M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,186M
€999M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,600
€24,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,600 PPS
36,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,700
€42,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,520M
€6,262M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€407M
€616M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€10,176M
€13,205M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€443M
€475M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€128M
€47M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,539M
€1,043M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,522M
€1,134M
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
77,500
69,500
Self-employed persons
13,700
17,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,600
8,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
85.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.4%
7.6%
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)
14,524
17,417
Enterprise births
1,070
1,226
Enterprise deaths
681
742
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
2.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.3%
38.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.2%
48.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.6%
24.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.2%
27.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
10.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
100.0%
99.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,074,479
2,039,120
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
571 /1k
545 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
456
659
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,454 kt
5,446 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
55 km/1000km²
63 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
331
462
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
71
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
84,146
85,773
Population aged 65+
33,732
35,764
Population aged under 15
19,954
21,232
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
47.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.1%
41.7%
Crude rate of total population change
6.2 /1k
2.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.1 /1k
5.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
1,116
1,202
Deaths
1,522
1,524
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.8%
66.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.72
Population density (persons per km²)
198 /km²
162 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
116,771
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
13.3%
14.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.4 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.2%
14.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,044 /100k
1,018 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
264 /100k
239 /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
55 /M
53 /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)
11 m
-2 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
22 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr