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 · DE276
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Maaseik (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Augsburg, Landkreis (61). Contrarian pick: Augsburg, Landkreis — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Resilience (80)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Maaseik
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — Augsburg, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Augsburg, Landkreis · Manufacturing → Augsburg, Landkreis · Office → Arr. Maaseik · Residential → Arr. Maaseik.
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
60.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
76.5
80.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.3
61.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.7
62.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.6
44.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.6% 5y
8.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,948
€36,703
Population density
287 /km²
247 /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
€8,811M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€176M
€110M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,629M
€2,294M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,484M
€1,994M
GVA — construction (F)
€879M
€705M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,770M
€1,900M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,300
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,000 PPS
33,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,000
€37,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,890M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,527M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,341M
€49,117M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,076M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€91M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,440M
€2,221M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,860M
€1,581M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,161M
€8,231M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,114
€87,943
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,637M
€2,195M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
95,800
114,790
Self-employed persons
20,400
11,630
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,900
23,990
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.0%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.6%
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
120,500
148,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
10,384
Enterprise births
—
773
Enterprise deaths
—
865
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.9%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.5%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.2%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.6%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.6%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.9%
9.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,251,389
379,940
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,346 kt
11,264 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
1,150
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
659
438
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
53
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
164,681
Population aged 65+
59,301
57,400
Population aged under 15
38,866
40,730
Median age of population
45.2 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
5.1 /1k
4.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
8.6 /1k
10.3 /1k
Live births
2,200
2,273
Deaths
2,258
2,713
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.0%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
—
245 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
243,053
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
10.2%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.7%
11.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
463 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
843 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
196 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
1.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.0 /100k
11.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
133 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
595 /100k
446 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
39 /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
492 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
83 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr