NUTS-3 NL221 · Netherlands
Population
726,8912025
GDP
€40,884M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,865.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL221 · NL411
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Veluwe (Opportunity 81). Runner-up: West-Noord-Brabant (78). Contrarian pick: West-Noord-Brabant — leads the set on Digital readiness (EU pctl 97).
Strengths
Digital readiness (97) · Labour market (92)
Red flags
Flood: 20% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Why you might not pick Veluwe
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 27) — West-Noord-Brabant may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → West-Noord-Brabant · Manufacturing → West-Noord-Brabant · Office → Veluwe · Residential → Veluwe.
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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
81.4
77.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
83.0
77.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
66.9
63.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
64.7
41.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
54.3
64.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
89.8
89.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
69.8
55.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
1.9% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€56,245
€59,519
Population density
390 /km²
500 /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)
€36,691M
€34,931M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€700M
€965M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,533M
€5,649M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,295M
€4,208M
GVA — construction (F)
€2,677M
€1,808M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€7,801M
€9,007M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,500
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
48,400 PPS
51,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€56,400
€59,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€23,257M
€30,094M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,035M
€4,238M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€50,437M
€73,167M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,960M
€2,504M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,064M
€784M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€9,291M
€8,243M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€8,808M
€6,990M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€33,821M
€32,514M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€103,215
€110,390
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,045M
€7,459M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
414,200
368,700
Self-employed persons
69,000
58,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,700
34,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.2%
86.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
7.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
408,500
370,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
85,872
79,951
Enterprise births
7,279
7,025
Enterprise deaths
3,919
4,045
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.2%
6.7%
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
5.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
44.1%
43.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.8%
54.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
25.7%
25.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.0%
29.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.8%
13.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.2%
99.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,814,696
2,289,732
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
565 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
20,902 kt
27,864 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,654
1,264
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
228
193
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
81 km/1000km²
102 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
70
44
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
452,711
413,146
Population aged 65+
154,843
146,865
Population aged under 15
119,337
93,944
Median age of population
42.5 yrs
44.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.2%
35.5%
Crude rate of total population change
6.1 /1k
4.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.8 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.8 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
7,125
5,702
Deaths
6,943
7,029
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.6%
58.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.64
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
395 /km²
528 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
738,891
670,009
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.0%
13.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.9 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.1%
11.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,014 /100k
1,001 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
249 /100k
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
14.4 /100k
22.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
173 /100k
189 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
901 /100k
1,328 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
43 /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)
40 m
9 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
29 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr