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 · ITC41
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuid-Limburg (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Varese (65). Contrarian pick: Varese — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 80).
#2Varese
Strengths
Industrial base (80) · Demographic outlook (73)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 29 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Zuid-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 27) — Varese 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
65.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
41.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.5
48.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
65.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
78.0
64.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
29.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
39.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
2.9% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
10.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,695
€35,861
Population density
906 /km²
736 /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)
€26,227M
€28,433M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€137M
€155M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,961M
€7,803M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,187M
€7,402M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,011M
€1,416M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,754M
€6,582M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
37,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,700
€36,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,196M
€101,220M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,560M
€19,922M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,730M
€188,904M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,032M
€3,797M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€846M
€638M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,823M
€8,073M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,948M
€4,402M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,214M
€28,819M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,491
€90,419
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,137M
€6,630M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
316,700
360,600
Self-employed persons
50,000
79,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,800
86,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
71.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
10.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
323,100
406,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
58,654
66,562
Enterprise births
4,953
4,858
Enterprise deaths
3,064
3,839
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
5.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
23.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.8%
34.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
22.9%
11.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.3%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
5.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,746,388
3,269,803
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
640 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,431 kt
16,055 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
1,560
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
326
177
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
98 km/1000km²
32 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
24
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
369,339
554,917
Population aged 65+
158,360
221,133
Population aged under 15
72,450
106,542
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
49.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
39.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.2 /1k
2.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
4,289
5,471
Deaths
7,607
9,517
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.5%
59.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
1.19
Population density (persons per km²)
922 /km²
812 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
576,883
771,778
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.2%
12.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
84.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
9.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
322 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,066 /100k
835 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.3 /100k
30.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,385 /100k
1,152 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
38 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
87 m
550 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
61 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
25 days/yr