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 · FRJ12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuid-Limburg (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Gard (57). Contrarian pick: Gard — 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) — Gard may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuid-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
73.4
56.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
60.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.5
44.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
65.0
39.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
78.0
53.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
67.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
55.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
2.2% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,695
€30,636
Population density
906 /km²
133 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
1,556
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
247
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€26,227M
€21,367M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€137M
€280M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,961M
€2,931M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,187M
€2,258M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,011M
€1,303M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,754M
€3,613M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€22,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
28,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,700
€31,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,196M
€22,266M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,560M
€1,184M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,730M
€47,206M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,032M
€3,988M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€846M
€268M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,823M
€7,083M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,948M
€6,157M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,214M
€21,389M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,491
€86,890
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,137M
€5,523M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
316,700
280,800
Self-employed persons
50,000
46,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,800
22,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
72.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
25.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
8.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
323,100
331,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
58,654
64,800
Enterprise births
4,953
8,563
Enterprise deaths
3,064
7,220
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
2.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
42.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.8%
48.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
22.9%
13.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.3%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
7.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
93.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,746,388
6,008,123
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,955
4,286
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,431 kt
12,677 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
98 km/1000km²
22 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
326
549
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
50
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
369,339
459,009
Population aged 65+
158,360
197,082
Population aged under 15
72,450
125,347
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
46.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
42.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.2 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
10.4 /1k
Live births
4,289
6,546
Deaths
7,607
8,108
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.5%
70.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
1.64
Population density (persons per km²)
922 /km²
135 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
576,883
731,197
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.2%
25.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
20.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
617 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,066 /100k
853 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
227 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.3 /100k
57.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
499 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,385 /100k
1,585 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
66 /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
72 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
57 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
15 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
11 days/yr