NUTS-3 BE242 · Belgium
Population
530,9712025
GDP
€26,327M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,167.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE242 · BE212
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Leuven (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Arr. Mechelen (75). Contrarian pick: Arr. Mechelen — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Talent & skills (93) · Connectivity (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (91) · Talent & skills (85)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Leuven
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 2) — Arr. Mechelen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Mechelen · Manufacturing → Arr. Mechelen · Office → Arr. Mechelen · Residential → Arr. Leuven.
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
76.7
75.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.0
66.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
71.7
62.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
64.0
32.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
83.7
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
93.0
84.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.2
60.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.4% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.7% 5y
1.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,583
€57,951
Population density
455 /km²
705 /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)
€23,830M
€19,013M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€240M
€179M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,500M
€3,336M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,849M
€2,995M
GVA — construction (F)
€745M
€829M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,566M
€5,646M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€32,200
€29,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,300 PPS
51,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,800
€58,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,879M
€29,336M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€800M
€7,442M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€32,835M
€54,762M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,558M
€1,624M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,138M
€1,907M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€8,990M
€5,800M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€6,789M
€3,223M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€22,870M
€18,215M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€131,739
€132,350
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,820M
€5,515M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
206,100
163,700
Self-employed persons
42,700
27,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
13,600
21,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
74.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.7%
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.5%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
253,500
170,600
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.2%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.4%
6.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
4.4%
2.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.7%
47.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
57.8%
51.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
19.0%
19.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
39.9%
31.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.4%
10.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
96.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
866,158
509,571
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
720 /1k
492 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,728 kt
6,843 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,495
1,468
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
83 km/1000km²
78 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
658
405
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
26
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
336,542
227,736
Population aged 65+
114,853
77,797
Population aged under 15
79,576
56,947
Median age of population
43.4 yrs
43.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
34.2%
Crude rate of total population change
7.0 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.1 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
9.4 /1k
9.6 /1k
Live births
4,384
3,440
Deaths
4,959
3,467
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.8%
59.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.32
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
453 /km²
724 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
524,005
359,095
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
8.8%
14.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
83.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
5.8%
10.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
376 /100k
525 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
810 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
196 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
1.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.5 /100k
38.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
337 /100k
252 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,269 /100k
1,079 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
34 /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)
55 m
8 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr