NUTS-3 BE335 · Belgium
Population
213,7602025
GDP
€7,357M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
66%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,164 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE335 · NO072
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Verviers — communes francophones (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Troms/Romsa/Tromssa (37). Contrarian pick: Troms/Romsa/Tromssa — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Air quality (95) · Connectivity (81)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Verviers — communes francophones
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 6) — Troms/Romsa/Tromssa may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Verviers — communes francophones 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
56.2
37.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
55.8
—
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.7
70.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
95.3
59.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.7
42.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
72.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.0
40.7
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
—
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.9% 5y
—
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,417
—
Population density
184 /km²
7 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,659M
—
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€73M
—
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,058M
—
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€800M
—
GVA — construction (F)
€646M
—
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,129M
—
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,600
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,700 PPS
—
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,500
—
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,523M
€7,085M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€941M
€357M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,375M
€12,839M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€868M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€44M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,836M
—
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,917M
—
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,263M
—
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€101,736
—
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,522M
—
Labour market
Employment, total persons
74,600
—
Self-employed persons
15,300
—
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,500
—
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.6%
80.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
22.8%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
—
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
88,200
—
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
1.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
2.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.8%
43.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.0%
46.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
15.2%
20.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.9%
26.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.1%
9.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
98.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,182,701
2,029,094
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
497 /1k
538 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,115
5,937
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,266 kt
11,656 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
69 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
989
3,483
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
79
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
134,272
110,706
Population aged 65+
43,472
34,599
Population aged under 15
36,016
25,174
Median age of population
41.8 yrs
41.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.4%
31.3%
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.3 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
8.8 /1k
Live births
1,945
1,532
Deaths
2,090
1,499
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.2%
54.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.34
Population density (persons per km²)
184 /km²
7 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
206,347
213,727
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.6%
20.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
82.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.6%
15.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
414 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,052 /100k
866 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
51.2 /100k
11.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
969 /100k
1,236 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
51 /M
33 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
—
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
—
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
—
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
—
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
—
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
—
Housing market
Dwelling price per m² (NOK, all types, Statistics Norway)
—
48,646 NOK/m²
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
399 m
807 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
251 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
6 days/yr