TerraSight · Compare

2 regions side-by-side

Name: TerraSight EU regional indicators
Creator: TerraSight
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BE231 · NO083

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NUTS-3 BE231 · Belgium

Arr. Aalst

Population

307,8732025

GDP

€10,350M2024

Unemployment· NUTS-2 source

4.2%2025

Employment· NUTS-2 source

78.8%2025

Active firms· FR-only

—

Cadastral parcels· FR-only

—

Area

474.8 km²

NUTS-3 NO083 · Norway

Østfold

Population

314,4072025

GDP

—

Unemployment· NUTS-2 source

5%2025

Employment· NUTS-2 source

80.3%2025

Active firms· FR-only

—

Cadastral parcels· FR-only

—

Area

3,898.8 km²

Decision brief

Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity

Best overall fit: Arr. Aalst (Opportunity 67). Runner-up: Østfold (45). Contrarian pick: Østfold — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).

#1Arr. Aalst

Strengths

Talent & skills (91) · Connectivity (71)

Red flags

Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)

#2Østfold

Strengths

Energy cost (100) · Talent & skills (95)

No red flags

Why you might not pick Arr. Aalst

Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Østfold may suit a mandate that weights that higher.

How robust is this recommendation?

The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Østfold · Manufacturing → Østfold · Office → Østfold · Residential → Arr. Aalst.

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

67.2

44.8

Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers

71.0

—

Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment

64.3

70.3

Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted

—

37.0

Connectivitytransit + air + market access

71.3

51.7

Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers

90.8

95.3

Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory

50.4

46.0

Trajectories · 2012–latest

Real GDP (2020 prices)

2.7% 5y

—

Population

0.9% 5y

1.2% 5y

Unemployment rate

8.7% 5y

—

Derived comparisons

GDP per capita

€33,617

—

Population density

648 /km²

81 /km²

Parcels per 1k pop

FR-only

Firms per 1k pop

FR-only

All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)

Economy

Gross value added, total (current prices)

€9,368M

—

GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)

€42M

—

GVA — industry (B–E)

€1,288M

—

GVA — manufacturing (C)

€1,103M

—

GVA — construction (F)

€915M

—

GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)

€1,717M

—

Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2

€30,800

€28,600

GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)

30,100 PPS

—

GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)

€33,800

—

Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2

€20,203M

€27,753M

Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2

€2,558M

€831M

Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2

€37,875M

€65,746M

GVA — real estate activities (L)

€1,358M

—

GVA — information & communication (J)

€248M

—

GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)

€2,961M

—

GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)

€2,445M

—

Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)

€8,749M

—

Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)

€111,762

—

Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)

€2,815M

—

Labour market

Employment, total persons

95,500

—

Self-employed persons

22,300

—

Employment in manufacturing (C)

9,200

—

Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2

76.7%

81.4%

Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2

16.6%

15.6%

Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)

4.1%

—

Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)

151,900

—

Innovation & R&D

R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2

3.4%

2.9%

Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2

5.7%

7.8%

R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2

2.7%

2.3%

Education

Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2

48.8%

56.5%

Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2

56.4%

63.5%

Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2

20.5%

21.7%

Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2

35.9%

37.5%

Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2

11.9%

13.8%

Digital

Households with internet access ·N2

95.7%

99.0%

Tourism

Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)

240,497

815,829

Mobility

Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2

475 /1k

494 /1k

Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)

5,236 kt

14,330 kt

Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.

1,379

3,398

Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2

66 km/1000km²

12 km/1000km²

Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).

448

1,081

Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.

Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.

Demography

Population aged 15–64 (working age)

193,125

199,464

Population aged 65+

65,741

66,117

Population aged under 15

49,007

48,826

Median age of population

43.9 yrs

43.6 yrs

Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)

34.0%

33.1%

Crude rate of total population change

8.7 /1k

7.2 /1k

Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment

9.8 /1k

8.2 /1k

Crude birth rate

9.0 /1k

8.6 /1k

Crude death rate

10.1 /1k

9.6 /1k

Live births

2,749

2,682

Deaths

3,086

2,994

Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)

59.4%

57.6%

Total fertility rate (births per woman)

1.52

1.47

Population density (persons per km²)

648 /km²

—

Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)

293,209

—

Social

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2

12.1%

15.3%

Life expectancy at birth ·N2

83.0 yrs

83.4 yrs

At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2

6.1%

10.8%

Health

Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2

566 /100k

324 /100k

Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2

867 /100k

823 /100k

Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2

222 /100k

206 /100k

Safety & crime

Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants

1.0 /100k

0.6 /100k

Robberies per 100k inhabitants

44.6 /100k

14.4 /100k

Burglaries per 100k inhabitants

226 /100k

—

Thefts per 100k inhabitants

930 /100k

1,764 /100k

Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2

38 /M

15 /M

Governance & institutions

Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

1.31

—

Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

1.41

—

Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

1.34

—

Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

1.58

—

Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)

0.25

—

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)

—

37,245 NOK/m²

Climate

Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)

63 m

139 m

Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)

5 days/yr

0 days/yr

Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)

34 days/yr

111 days/yr

Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)

2 days/yr

7 days/yr