NUTS-3 BE224 · Belgium
Population
436,0402025
GDP
€22,146M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
885.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE224 · DEA27
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Hasselt (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Rhein-Erft-Kreis (72). Contrarian pick: Rhein-Erft-Kreis — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 81).
Why you might not pick Arr. Hasselt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — Rhein-Erft-Kreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Rhein-Erft-Kreis · Manufacturing → Rhein-Erft-Kreis · Office → Arr. Hasselt · Residential → Rhein-Erft-Kreis.
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
73.1
72.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.8
53.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.0
61.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
41.3
56.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.0
77.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.2
49.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.5% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€50,789
€42,268
Population density
493 /km²
679 /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)
€20,045M
€18,454M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€120M
€120M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,085M
€5,690M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,455M
€2,957M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,220M
€813M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,863M
€4,515M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,300
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
45,400 PPS
37,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€50,900
€42,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,890M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,527M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,341M
€125,036M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,821M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€857M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,372M
€3,929M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,386M
€3,387M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€18,687M
€17,262M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€106,924
€104,387
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,038M
€3,084M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
213,600
204,680
Self-employed persons
34,700
19,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,000
25,920
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.0%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.6%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.4%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
201,600
247,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
17,569
Enterprise births
—
1,607
Enterprise deaths
—
1,611
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.9%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.5%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.2%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.6%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.6%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.9%
10.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,202,546
947,493
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
585 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,548 kt
21,625 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,603
2,308
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
597
483
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
44 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
29
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
273,829
301,995
Population aged 65+
98,414
105,888
Population aged under 15
63,797
70,105
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
45.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.9%
35.1%
Crude rate of total population change
6.4 /1k
3.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
12.2 /1k
Live births
3,453
3,965
Deaths
4,168
5,809
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.2%
58.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.34
1.43
Population density (persons per km²)
—
682 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
519,699
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
10.2%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.7%
17.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
463 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
843 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
196 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.4 /100k
43.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
237 /100k
336 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
807 /100k
1,331 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /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)
41 m
74 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr