NUTS-3 BE310 · Belgium
Population
416,5042025
GDP
€28,893M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,101.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE310 · BE212
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Nivelles (Opportunity 78). Runner-up: Arr. Mechelen (75).
Strengths
Talent & skills (97) · Economic base (95)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (91) · Talent & skills (85)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Nivelles
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 3) — 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. Nivelles · Office → Arr. Nivelles · Residential → Arr. Nivelles.
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
77.5
75.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.0
66.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
69.2
62.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
70.0
32.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.7
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
96.8
84.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
57.6
60.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.7% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
1.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€69,371
€57,951
Population density
378 /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)
€26,152M
€19,013M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€104M
€179M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€8,002M
€3,336M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€7,529M
€2,995M
GVA — construction (F)
€768M
€829M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,786M
€5,646M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€31,300
€29,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
61,900 PPS
51,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€69,500
€58,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,702M
€29,336M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,676M
€7,442M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€11,055M
€54,762M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,306M
€1,624M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,114M
€1,907M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€8,257M
€5,800M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,236M
€3,223M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€25,470M
€18,215M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€165,354
€132,350
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€8,117M
€5,515M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
180,200
163,700
Self-employed persons
40,100
27,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,100
21,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.6%
74.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.7%
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.7%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
195,200
170,600
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
8.7%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.8%
6.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
4.5%
2.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
65.6%
47.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
66.7%
51.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
21.2%
19.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
41.1%
31.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
16.7%
10.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.4%
96.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
572,017
509,571
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
531 /1k
492 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,937 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.
2,569
1,468
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
57 km/1000km²
78 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
617
405
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
23
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
262,884
227,736
Population aged 65+
87,797
77,797
Population aged under 15
65,823
56,947
Median age of population
43.3 yrs
43.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.4%
34.2%
Crude rate of total population change
3.0 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.2 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
9.1 /1k
9.6 /1k
Live births
3,268
3,440
Deaths
3,788
3,467
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.4%
59.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
379 /km²
724 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
384,796
359,095
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
13.9%
14.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.1 yrs
83.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
9.9%
10.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
187 /100k
525 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
841 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
207 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.7 /100k
1.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
47.9 /100k
38.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
535 /100k
252 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
919 /100k
1,079 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /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)
108 m
8 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr