NUTS-3 BE234 · Belgium
Population
583,6062025
GDP
€38,769M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
951.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE234 · BE332
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Gent (Opportunity 75). Runner-up: Arr. Liège (69). Contrarian pick: Arr. Liège — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 78).
Strengths
Economic base (94) · Talent & skills (91)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Gent
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Arr. Liège may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Gent leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
74.8
69.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
68.5
50.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
63.0
46.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
31.0
66.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.0
78.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
90.8
79.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
53.2
51.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.6% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€66,430
€41,485
Population density
614 /km²
799 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€35,091M
€23,928M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€262M
€54M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,778M
€3,703M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,743M
€2,839M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,919M
€1,352M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€7,836M
€4,916M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,800
€25,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
59,400 PPS
37,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€66,700
€41,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,203M
€8,523M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,558M
€941M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€37,875M
€22,375M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,057M
€2,533M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,960M
€677M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€10,925M
€6,186M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€8,370M
€7,716M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€32,773M
€22,504M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€121,123
€107,319
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€10,546M
€5,469M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
330,100
254,100
Self-employed persons
52,200
34,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
38,500
21,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.7%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.6%
22.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.2%
7.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
298,100
266,700
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.7%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
48.8%
41.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
47.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
20.5%
15.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
35.9%
29.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
11.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.7%
94.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,909,350
798,850
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
475 /1k
497 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,496 kt
10,014 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,728
3,917
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
66 km/1000km²
69 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
467
615
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
56
35
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
378,871
406,187
Population aged 65+
115,997
127,493
Population aged under 15
88,738
103,540
Median age of population
41.2 yrs
41.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.6%
31.4%
Crude rate of total population change
8.5 /1k
5.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.1 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
8.9 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
5,434
5,805
Deaths
5,182
6,671
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.0%
56.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.40
Population density (persons per km²)
618 /km²
809 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
599,180
656,992
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.1%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.1%
14.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
566 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
867 /100k
1,052 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
1.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
62.0 /100k
261 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
408 /100k
736 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,131 /100k
2,373 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
51 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
7 m
135 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
29 days/yr
42 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr