NUTS-3 BE213 · Belgium
Population
483,8062025
GDP
€29,151M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,362 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE213 · DE113
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Turnhout (Opportunity 78). Runner-up: Esslingen (71). Contrarian pick: Esslingen — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 85).
Strengths
Industrial base (94) · Economic base (92)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (91) · Economic base (86)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Turnhout
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 14) — Esslingen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Esslingen · Manufacturing → Arr. Turnhout · Office → Arr. Turnhout · Residential → Esslingen.
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
78.1
71.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.5
47.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.5
67.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
49.0
53.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
72.0
77.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
84.5
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.0
36.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
2.2% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.5% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€60,253
€52,824
Population density
355 /km²
838 /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)
€26,385M
€25,891M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€649M
€51M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€9,890M
€8,810M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€9,383M
€8,243M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,773M
€1,074M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,331M
€5,953M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,500
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
53,800 PPS
47,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€60,400
€53,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,336M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,442M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€54,762M
€139,588M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,129M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€405M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,488M
€6,355M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,255M
€3,649M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€25,278M
€24,569M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€143,310
€104,681
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€7,653M
€6,270M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
209,800
285,080
Self-employed persons
36,700
22,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
37,600
69,060
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.6%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.3%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
226,800
304,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
20,647
Enterprise births
—
1,832
Enterprise deaths
—
1,920
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.1%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.6%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.6%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
47.3%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.5%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
19.4%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
31.1%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.8%
11.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,962,916
1,511,223
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
492 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,034 kt
14,730 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,817
1,983
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
78 km/1000km²
—
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
376
370
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
35
11
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)
302,739
344,535
Population aged 65+
107,968
115,007
Population aged under 15
73,099
77,059
Median age of population
44.8 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.7%
33.4%
Crude rate of total population change
6.3 /1k
1.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.9 /1k
2.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude death rate
9.0 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
4,071
4,927
Deaths
4,362
5,715
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
55.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
359 /km²
837 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
467,692
538,778
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.2%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.3 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
10.3%
12.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
525 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
861 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
199 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
32.7 /100k
22.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
248 /100k
142 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
900 /100k
744 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
27 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
18 m
295 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
63 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr