NUTS-3 SE321 · Sweden
Population
241,4582025
GDP
€12,132M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
85%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
23,009.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
SE321 · SE313
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Västernorrlands län (Opportunity 43). Runner-up: Gävleborgs län (34). Contrarian pick: Gävleborgs län — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Labour market (97) · Energy cost (97)
Red flags
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Västernorrlands län
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Connectivity (EU pctl 7) — Gävleborgs län may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Västernorrlands län 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
42.5
33.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
48.5
50.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
56.2
46.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
49.3
52.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
7.0
4.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
75.5
79.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
41.8
17.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.3% 5y
1.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€50,244
€38,555
Population density
10 /km²
14 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€10,865M
€9,825M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€425M
€326M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,804M
€1,840M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,934M
€1,484M
GVA — construction (F)
€757M
€916M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,204M
€1,863M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,000
€21,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,100 PPS
32,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,900
€38,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,434M
€7,213M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€686M
€1,289M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€7,806M
€17,269M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€736M
€688M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€474M
€311M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,865M
€1,707M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,811M
€3,173M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,185M
€10,019M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€105,770
€87,385
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,350M
€2,524M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
122,020
133,570
Self-employed persons
7,100
6,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,400
17,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
84.9%
83.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.0%
23.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.5%
8.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
129,100
147,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,894
19,051
Enterprise births
1,257
1,385
Enterprise deaths
1,210
1,201
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
5.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.8%
41.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
39.3%
45.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
34.5%
34.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.4%
28.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
9.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.1%
93.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,427,320
1,239,247
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
555 /1k
558 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,337 kt
15,725 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
16
3
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
7
1
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
0 km/1000km²
1 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
154
186
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
142,373
167,706
Population aged 65+
61,269
72,154
Population aged under 15
37,816
44,698
Median age of population
45.6 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.0%
43.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.9 /1k
-3.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.6 /1k
-0.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
11.9 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
1,786
2,231
Deaths
2,867
3,217
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
69.6%
69.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
11 /km²
16 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
262,690
339,346
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.8%
19.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.8 yrs
83.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
17.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
205 /100k
182 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
950 /100k
902 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
19.0 /100k
30.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
391 /100k
725 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,496 /100k
2,086 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
27 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.91
1.91
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.62
1.62
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.74
1.74
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
2.03
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.94
0.94
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.085/kWh
€0.085/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.073/kWh
€0.073/kWh
Housing market
Average sold price, tenant-owned flats (SEK thousands, Statistics Sweden)
945 kSEK
1,264 kSEK
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
109 m
141 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
174 days/yr
144 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr