NUTS-3 BE235 · Belgium
Population
128,9222025
GDP
€5,008M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
421.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE235 · FRC24
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Oudenaarde (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Territoire de Belfort (39). Contrarian pick: Territoire de Belfort — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Talent & skills (91) · Connectivity (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Connectivity (69)
Red flags
Growth momentum (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Oudenaarde
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Territoire de Belfort may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Oudenaarde 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
58.8
39.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.3
41.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
69.1
47.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
59.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.0
69.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
90.8
61.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
12.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.6% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.8% 5y
8.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€38,842
€32,334
Population density
306 /km²
230 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
982
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
179
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,533M
€4,047M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€62M
€24M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€681M
€728M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€626M
€700M
GVA — construction (F)
€400M
€191M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,004M
€652M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,800
€22,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,700 PPS
30,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€38,900
€32,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,203M
€8,575M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,558M
€1,453M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€37,875M
€19,541M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€548M
€747M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€60M
€101M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,434M
€1,257M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€952M
€1,196M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,233M
€4,038M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€112,749
€85,500
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,362M
€1,046M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
45,800
54,000
Self-employed persons
12,000
4,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,000
7,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.7%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.6%
19.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
63,500
63,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
7,360
Enterprise births
—
996
Enterprise deaths
—
798
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
6.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
2.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.7%
5.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
48.8%
37.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
44.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
20.5%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
35.9%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
7.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.7%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
275,044
309,330
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
475 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
858
1,020
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,402 kt
1,505 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
66 km/1000km²
13 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
666
728
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
48
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
80,707
86,273
Population aged 65+
28,131
30,480
Population aged under 15
20,084
23,358
Median age of population
44.5 yrs
42.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.9%
35.3%
Crude rate of total population change
5.1 /1k
-0.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.5 /1k
0.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
10.5 /1k
9.8 /1k
Live births
1,154
1,214
Deaths
1,344
1,369
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.7%
62.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
304 /km²
233 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
112,108
123,753
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.1%
19.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.1%
15.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
566 /100k
506 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
867 /100k
853 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
7.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
24.9 /100k
176 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
258 /100k
1,029 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
653 /100k
4,590 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
64 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
66 m
360 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
31 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr