NUTS-3 BE342 · Belgium
Population
52,2442025
GDP
€1,547M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,050.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE342 · EL433
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Bastogne (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Ρέθυμνο (29). Contrarian pick: Ρέθυμνο — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 88).
#2Ρέθυμνο
Strengths
Demographic outlook (88) · Cost advantage (81)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Bastogne
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 17) — Ρέθυμνο may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Bastogne 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
45.1
29.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.3
21.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.6
43.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
99.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.3
28.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.8
17.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.6
68.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.1% 5y
21.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,612
€18,073
Population density
50 /km²
57 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,400M
€1,352M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€55M
€165M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€205M
€98M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€172M
€64M
GVA — construction (F)
€123M
€46M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€264M
€541M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,500
€12,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,400 PPS
22,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,700
€17,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,495M
€2,427M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€243M
€104M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,990M
€4,111M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€222M
€190M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€4M
€15M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€372M
€290M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€381M
€212M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,298M
€1,383M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€99,707
€42,367
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€419M
€383M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
16,000
40,100
Self-employed persons
3,800
14,440
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,900
1,730
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.8%
72.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
12.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.8%
5.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
24,900
40,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
—
8,128
Enterprise births
—
581
Enterprise deaths
—
221
3-year enterprise survival rate
—
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.1%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
43.6%
28.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.4%
36.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.9%
3.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.4%
17.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
6.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
918,949
6,692,617
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
500 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,616 kt
1,524 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,142
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
1 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2,186
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
62
51
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
34,187
56,015
Population aged 65+
8,842
15,996
Population aged under 15
9,215
13,705
Median age of population
39.1 yrs
42.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.9%
28.6%
Crude rate of total population change
6.6 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.4 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.9 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
7.7 /1k
9.5 /1k
Live births
516
815
Deaths
401
810
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.8%
53.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
50 /km²
57 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
48,630
83,800
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.4%
18.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.9%
12.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
390 /100k
410 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,045 /100k
966 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
61.7 /100k
0.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
480 /100k
17.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
819 /100k
205 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
93 /M
71 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
451 m
609 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
23 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
68 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr