NUTS-3 BE225 · Belgium
Population
261,7612025
GDP
€9,671M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
912.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE225 · DE114
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Maaseik (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Göppingen (61). Contrarian pick: Göppingen — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 85).
Strengths
Labour market (85) · Industrial base (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Maaseik
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — Göppingen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Maaseik · Manufacturing → Göppingen · Office → Arr. Maaseik · Residential → Göppingen.
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
67.5
60.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
76.5
61.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.3
70.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.7
71.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.6
26.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.6% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,948
€37,560
Population density
287 /km²
405 /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)
€8,754M
€8,879M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€176M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,629M
€2,649M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,484M
€2,449M
GVA — construction (F)
€879M
€763M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,770M
€1,638M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,300
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,000 PPS
33,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,000
€37,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,890M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,527M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,341M
€139,588M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,076M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€91M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,440M
€2,002M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,860M
€1,765M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,161M
€8,426M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,114
€86,167
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,637M
€2,150M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
95,800
118,770
Self-employed persons
20,400
10,710
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,900
29,840
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.0%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.6%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
120,500
143,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
9,788
Enterprise births
—
841
Enterprise deaths
—
888
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.9%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.5%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.2%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.6%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.6%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.9%
11.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,251,389
493,394
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,346 kt
5,729 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,724
1,210
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
659
468
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
38
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)
163,594
161,900
Population aged 65+
59,301
58,779
Population aged under 15
38,866
38,130
Median age of population
45.2 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
36.3%
Crude rate of total population change
5.1 /1k
-1.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
8.6 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
2,200
2,231
Deaths
2,258
3,107
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.0%
59.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
—
404 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
264,734
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
10.2%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.7%
12.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
463 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
843 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
196 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.0 /100k
23.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
186 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
595 /100k
755 /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)
47 m
556 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
77 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
6 days/yr