NUTS-3 BE329 · Belgium
Population
142,9642025
GDP
€3,433M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
65.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
222.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE329 · BE331
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Huy (Opportunity 58). Runner-up: Arr. La Louvière (47).
#1Arr. Huy
Strengths
Talent & skills (79) · Connectivity (78)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 21% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Strengths
Connectivity (75) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Huy
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Flood: 21% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 6) — Arr. La Louvière may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Huy 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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
47.3
58.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.3
38.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
38.7
49.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
67.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
74.7
78.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.0
79.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
49.6
64.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
4.7% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€24,011
€38,651
Population density
642 /km²
177 /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)
€3,107M
€4,075M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€63M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€138M
€1,314M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€86M
€623M
GVA — construction (F)
€256M
€229M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€559M
€548M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,300
€25,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,400 PPS
34,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€24,100
€38,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,772M
€8,523M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,340M
€941M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,931M
€22,375M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€484M
€452M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€32M
€27M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€851M
€897M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,287M
€1,024M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,914M
€3,833M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,324
€122,853
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€718M
€931M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
41,000
37,800
Self-employed persons
7,200
8,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
2,100
3,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.6%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.6%
22.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
9.0%
7.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
59,800
49,100
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
41.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.9%
47.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.7%
15.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
29.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
11.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.9%
94.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
100,597
166,999
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
498 /1k
497 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,161 kt
2,746 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
673
1,331
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
75 km/1000km²
69 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
471
1,143
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
22
55
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
90,644
74,824
Population aged 65+
29,178
22,988
Population aged under 15
23,142
18,666
Median age of population
42.3 yrs
42.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.2%
30.7%
Crude rate of total population change
3.8 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.7 /1k
5.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
8.8 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
10.4 /1k
Live births
1,307
1,020
Deaths
1,584
1,212
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.7%
55.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
—
177 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
101,487
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.8%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.0 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
14.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
603 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,129 /100k
1,052 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
3.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
117 /100k
66.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
390 /100k
475 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
933 /100k
721 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
42 /M
51 /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)
86 m
255 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
46 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr