NUTS-3 NL323 · Netherlands
Population
202,4912025
GDP
€8,706M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
179.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL323 · BE225
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Maaseik (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: IJmond (65). Contrarian pick: IJmond — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 97).
#2IJmond
Strengths
Talent & skills (97) · Labour market (95)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 17 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Maaseik
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — IJmond may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Maaseik 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
64.7
67.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.5
76.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.9
59.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
25.3
55.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.0
82.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
96.5
78.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.8
54.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
2.4% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.0% 5y
3.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,994
€36,948
Population density
1,127 /km²
287 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,813M
€8,754M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€69M
€176M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,974M
€1,629M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,394M
€1,484M
GVA — construction (F)
€514M
€879M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,367M
€1,770M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€28,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,000 PPS
33,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€43,100
€37,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€41,901M
€9,890M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,039M
€1,527M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€104,822M
€19,341M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€855M
€1,076M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€76M
€91M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,913M
€2,440M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,509M
€1,860M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,464M
€8,161M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€98,737
€104,114
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,638M
€2,637M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,200
95,800
Self-employed persons
18,300
20,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
13,700
15,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.4%
73.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.8%
9.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.8%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
113,500
120,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
24,427
—
Enterprise births
2,255
—
Enterprise deaths
1,274
—
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.8%
—
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.8%
4.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
52.2%
41.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
62.6%
49.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
27.4%
14.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
36.5%
28.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
14.0%
10.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.2%
95.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
833,336
3,251,389
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
428 /1k
545 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,242 kt
7,346 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
352
1,724
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
108 km/1000km²
44 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
174
659
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
23
31
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
126,405
163,594
Population aged 65+
45,779
59,301
Population aged under 15
30,307
38,866
Median age of population
45.3 yrs
45.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
36.2%
Crude rate of total population change
5.8 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.7 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
11.3 /1k
8.6 /1k
Live births
1,884
2,200
Deaths
2,272
2,258
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.2%
60.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.59
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
1,239 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
193,256
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.9%
10.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
83.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.8%
6.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
463 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
990 /100k
843 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
196 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
24.3 /100k
33.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
147 /100k
208 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
957 /100k
595 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
46 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
4 m
47 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
17 days/yr
37 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr