NUTS-3 NL423 · Netherlands
Population
600,1492025
GDP
€29,224M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
662.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL423 · FRH02
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuid-Limburg (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Finistère (57). Contrarian pick: Finistère — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Why you might not pick Zuid-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 27) — Finistère may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zuid-Limburg · Manufacturing → Finistère · Office → Zuid-Limburg · Residential → Zuid-Limburg.
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
73.4
56.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
73.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.5
54.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
65.0
63.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
78.0
51.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
74.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
57.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
3.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,695
€34,405
Population density
906 /km²
138 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
1,780
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
208
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€26,227M
€28,906M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€137M
€1,041M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,961M
€4,443M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,187M
€4,059M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,011M
€1,873M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,754M
€4,829M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€23,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
31,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,700
€34,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,196M
€28,333M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,560M
€3,146M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,730M
€65,081M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,032M
€5,198M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€846M
€567M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,823M
€8,999M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,948M
€7,721M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,214M
€28,948M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,491
€84,373
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,137M
€7,367M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
316,700
391,100
Self-employed persons
50,000
46,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,800
43,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
75.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
16.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
5.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
323,100
424,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
58,654
60,042
Enterprise births
4,953
7,427
Enterprise deaths
3,064
5,996
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
5.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
42.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.8%
48.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
22.9%
16.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.3%
28.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
9.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
93.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,746,388
8,470,728
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
630 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,431 kt
25,803 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,955
4,781
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
98 km/1000km²
2 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
326
508
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
36
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
369,339
559,796
Population aged 65+
158,360
241,922
Population aged under 15
72,450
139,368
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
46.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
43.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.2 /1k
3.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
11.8 /1k
Live births
4,289
7,119
Deaths
7,607
11,103
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.5%
68.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
922 /km²
139 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
576,883
873,268
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.2%
14.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
10.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
541 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,066 /100k
849 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
224 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.3 /100k
35.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
345 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,385 /100k
1,129 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
49 /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)
87 m
125 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
11 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
9 days/yr