NUTS-3 SE221 · Sweden
Population
157,2232025
GDP
€7,269M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
10.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,043.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
SE221 · FRF21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Blekinge län (42). Contrarian pick: Blekinge län — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 97).
Strengths
Energy cost (97) · Demographic outlook (95)
Red flags
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ardennes
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 8) — Blekinge län may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ardennes 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
41.6
53.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.8
49.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.6
45.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
85.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
12.3
50.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
93.0
44.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.6
50.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.0% 5y
9.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€46,234
€32,325
Population density
52 /km²
50 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
2,189
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
185
All indicators · 90 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,510M
€7,582M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€117M
€414M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,262M
€1,951M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,994M
€1,224M
GVA — construction (F)
€362M
€383M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,057M
€1,403M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,800
€22,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
38,700 PPS
29,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,900
€31,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,793M
€11,131M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,969M
€1,531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€34,013M
€22,820M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€409M
€958M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€368M
€570M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€821M
€1,437M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,891M
€1,994M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,732M
€7,452M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€103,245
€93,767
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,864M
€1,936M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
74,900
92,400
Self-employed persons
3,700
11,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,700
14,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.4%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
18.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
10.1%
7.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
81,800
112,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,541
13,991
Enterprise births
783
1,798
Enterprise deaths
650
1,390
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.2%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.7%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.4%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.9%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
52.2%
33.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.9%
41.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
37.9%
13.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
35.4%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.8%
6.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.5%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
994,903
464,672
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
461 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
7
1,414
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,979 kt
9,922 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
5
538
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
141
86
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
93,315
155,823
Population aged 65+
39,165
63,919
Population aged under 15
24,743
43,250
Median age of population
45.1 yrs
45.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.0%
41.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.8 /1k
-5.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.8 /1k
-2.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.3 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
1,161
2,161
Deaths
1,783
2,837
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.5%
68.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.41
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
54 /km²
51 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
183,953
196,030
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.4%
22.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.7 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.8%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
183 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
868 /100k
930 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
34.8 /100k
37.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
901 /100k
417 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,208 /100k
1,250 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
18 /M
80 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.91
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.62
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.74
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.94
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.085/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.073/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Housing market
Average sold price, tenant-owned flats (SEK thousands, Statistics Sweden)
1,368 kSEK
—
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
49 m
192 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
75 days/yr
46 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr