NUTS-3 BE253 · Belgium
Population
109,0632025
GDP
€5,419M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
552.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE253 · BE235
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Oudenaarde (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Arr. Ieper (59). Contrarian pick: Arr. Ieper — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 83).
Strengths
Talent & skills (91) · Connectivity (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (83) · Talent & skills (82)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
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) — Arr. Ieper may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arr. Ieper · Manufacturing → Arr. Ieper · Office → Arr. Oudenaarde · Residential → Arr. Oudenaarde.
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
58.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.5
63.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.0
69.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.0
73.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
82.3
90.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.2
48.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.5% 5y
3.6% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.9% 5y
9.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,688
€38,842
Population density
197 /km²
306 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,905M
€4,533M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€216M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,427M
€681M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,352M
€626M
GVA — construction (F)
€310M
€400M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€934M
€1,004M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€31,200
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,400 PPS
34,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,800
€38,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,710M
€20,203M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,304M
€2,558M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€29,133M
€37,875M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€431M
€548M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€108M
€60M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,093M
€1,434M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€925M
€952M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,598M
€4,233M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€115,270
€112,749
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,478M
€1,362M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
48,500
45,800
Self-employed persons
10,500
12,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,300
7,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.2%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.7%
16.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
51,800
63,500
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.7%
48.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.3%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.6%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.9%
35.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.4%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
821,704
275,044
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
512 /1k
475 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,726 kt
1,402 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
588
858
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
539
666
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
59 km/1000km²
66 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
48
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
66,848
80,707
Population aged 65+
25,155
28,131
Population aged under 15
17,060
20,084
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
44.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.6%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
5.3 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.3 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
1,001
1,154
Deaths
1,104
1,344
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.2%
59.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.64
1.58
Population density (persons per km²)
197 /km²
304 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,298
112,108
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
9.8%
12.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.1 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
5.6%
6.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
634 /100k
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
849 /100k
867 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
29.5 /100k
24.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
242 /100k
258 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
680 /100k
653 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
43 /M
38 /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)
29 m
66 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
31 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr