NUTS-3 BE257 · Belgium
Population
96,2532025
GDP
€5,622M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
329.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE257 · BE253
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Tielt (Opportunity 60). Runner-up: Arr. Ieper (59).
Strengths
Industrial base (92) · Economic base (91)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (83) · Talent & skills (82)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Tielt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 4) — Arr. Ieper may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Tielt 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
60.2
58.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.3
69.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.9
67.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
23.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
67.3
69.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
82.3
82.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
64.0
63.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
4.5% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.5% 5y
1.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€58,404
€49,688
Population density
292 /km²
197 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 83 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,088M
€4,905M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€235M
€216M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,752M
€1,427M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,692M
€1,352M
GVA — construction (F)
€532M
€310M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€800M
€934M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€31,200
€31,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
52,200 PPS
44,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€58,600
€49,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,710M
€16,710M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,304M
€2,304M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€29,133M
€29,133M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€429M
€431M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€59M
€108M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,188M
€1,093M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€581M
€925M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,770M
€4,598M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€130,317
€115,270
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,533M
€1,478M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
44,500
48,500
Self-employed persons
11,000
10,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,600
10,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.2%
76.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.7%
11.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
46,600
51,800
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.7%
42.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.3%
51.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.6%
18.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.9%
30.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.4%
10.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
75,221
821,704
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
512 /1k
512 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,180 kt
2,726 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
410
588
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
59 km/1000km²
59 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
426
539
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
39
33
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
60,194
66,848
Population aged 65+
21,014
25,155
Population aged under 15
15,045
17,060
Median age of population
43.8 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.9%
37.6%
Crude rate of total population change
4.9 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.7 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
10.1 /1k
Live births
928
1,001
Deaths
967
1,104
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.9%
63.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.62
1.64
Population density (persons per km²)
289 /km²
197 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
81,559
95,298
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
9.8%
9.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.1 yrs
83.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
5.6%
5.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
634 /100k
634 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
849 /100k
849 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
205 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.1 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.4 /100k
29.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
181 /100k
242 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
528 /100k
680 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
43 /M
43 /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)
23 m
29 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
32 days/yr
28 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr