NUTS-3 BE100 · Belgium
Population
1,271,7092025
GDP
€108,153M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
63.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
160.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE100 · NO081
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Oslo (56). Contrarian pick: Oslo — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Talent & skills (94)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 1) — Oslo may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Oslo · Manufacturing → Oslo · Office → Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad · Residential → Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad.
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
72.1
56.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.0
52.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.3
66.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
44.3
28.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
72.0
48.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
94.0
95.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
29.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.3% 5y
0.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€85,045
€97,985
Population density
7,940 /km²
1,588 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€97,893M
€63,921M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€24M
—
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,645M
—
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,922M
€1,571M
GVA — construction (F)
€2,170M
€3,526M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€21,683M
€15,724M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€28,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
76,000 PPS
73,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€85,300
€101,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€21,248M
€27,753M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€475M
€831M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€55,797M
€65,746M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€8,004M
€6,676M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€6,538M
€7,027M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€40,663M
€24,581M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€28,707M
€17,127M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€92,575M
€82,689M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€152,854
€148,334
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€22,391M
€18,446M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
729,700
496,000
Self-employed persons
85,900
—
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,100
12,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
67.1%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
15.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.5%
4.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
587,800
437,700
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
2.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
8.2%
7.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.0%
2.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.9%
56.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
63.5%
63.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.5%
21.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
41.0%
37.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.0%
13.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.0%
99.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,372,971
6,929,404
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
389 /1k
494 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,822 kt
24,541 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
627
1,872
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
49
259
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
68 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
11
31
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
881,244
517,246
Population aged 65+
165,217
96,968
Population aged under 15
225,248
110,076
Median age of population
36.1 yrs
36.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
18.7%
18.7%
Crude rate of total population change
5.8 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.4 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
11.1 /1k
12.6 /1k
Crude death rate
6.7 /1k
5.5 /1k
Live births
14,034
9,117
Deaths
8,526
3,944
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
44.3%
40.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
7,827 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,568,829
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.6%
15.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
83.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.3%
10.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
678 /100k
324 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
914 /100k
823 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
214 /100k
206 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
443 /100k
74.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
619 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
4,651 /100k
4,135 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
9 /M
15 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.82
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.57
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.94
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
2.03
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.92
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
—
Housing market
Dwelling price per m² (NOK, all types, Statistics Norway)
—
98,381 NOK/m²
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
81 m
176 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
137 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
9 days/yr