NUTS-3 NL421 · Netherlands
Population
291,3872025
GDP
€16,575M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
858.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL421 · FRY10
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Noord-Limburg (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Guadeloupe (34). Contrarian pick: Guadeloupe — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Cost advantage (67)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Noord-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 36) — Guadeloupe may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Noord-Limburg 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
76.9
33.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
74.0
40.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.5
21.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.7
32.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
76.0
43.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
28.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
72.0
42.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.7% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€56,883
€28,706
Population density
339 /km²
246 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
640
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
313
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€14,875M
€10,901M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€982M
€197M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,745M
€1,149M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,540M
€368M
GVA — construction (F)
€513M
€468M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,050M
€2,430M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€18,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
48,800 PPS
26,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€57,000
€29,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,196M
€2,012M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,560M
€50M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,730M
€6,578M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,017M
€998M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€160M
€436M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,976M
€2,276M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,724M
€4,382M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,733M
€10,413M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€99,382
€80,280
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,481M
€2,045M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
174,400
150,800
Self-employed persons
25,100
21,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,400
7,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
65.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
37.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
16.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
158,500
155,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
29,303
33,764
Enterprise births
2,429
6,154
Enterprise deaths
1,396
3,625
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
7.3%
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
2.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
28.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.8%
40.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
22.9%
8.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.3%
20.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
4.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
85.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,225,252
1,159,302
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
495 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
757
1,024
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
15,089 kt
—
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
260
248
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
98 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
14
17
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
181,169
249,146
Population aged 65+
71,285
98,383
Population aged under 15
38,933
66,262
Median age of population
47.1 yrs
47.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.3%
39.5%
Crude rate of total population change
3.4 /1k
-2.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.7 /1k
-2.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
9.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.5 /1k
9.7 /1k
Live births
2,381
3,990
Deaths
3,052
4,018
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.8%
66.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.80
Population density (persons per km²)
347 /km²
247 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
265,754
277,231
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.2%
38.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
81.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
32.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
553 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,066 /100k
1,083 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
193 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
6.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.7 /100k
259 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
223 /100k
392 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,240 /100k
1,902 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
131 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
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)
25 m
178 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
64 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
0 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr