NUTS-3 BE353 · Belgium
Population
68,1362025
GDP
€1,706M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
914.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BE353 · BE233
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Eeklo (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Arr. Philippeville (44). Contrarian pick: Arr. Philippeville — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Air quality (98) · Connectivity (79)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. Eeklo
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Arr. Philippeville may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Eeklo 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
44.0
54.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
79.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
46.8
64.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
98.0
33.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
79.3
70.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.0
90.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.2
47.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.4% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.4% 5y
8.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€25,034
€36,266
Population density
75 /km²
267 /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)
€1,544M
€2,951M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€46M
€87M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€101M
€617M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€62M
€571M
GVA — construction (F)
€102M
€245M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€243M
€459M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,100
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
22,300 PPS
32,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€25,000
€36,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€3,806M
€20,203M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€288M
€2,558M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€9,518M
€37,875M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€249M
€371M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€6M
€39M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€417M
€892M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€635M
€652M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,465M
€2,756M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,069
€108,807
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€376M
€887M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
18,900
30,900
Self-employed persons
4,900
7,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
1,000
5,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.6%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
16.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.8%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
30,600
44,200
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
45.2%
48.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.6%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.7%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.7%
35.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.6%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.1%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
153,164
95,485
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
515 /1k
475 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
967 kt
1,276 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
813
512
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
66 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,193
570
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
38
50
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
43,372
56,244
Population aged 65+
14,718
20,487
Population aged under 15
10,046
13,156
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
45.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.9%
36.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.5 /1k
3.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.8 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude death rate
11.3 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
543
724
Deaths
769
960
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.1%
59.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.38
1.41
Population density (persons per km²)
75 /km²
269 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
52,863
78,271
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.7%
12.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.5%
6.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
501 /100k
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
867 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
235 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
46.9 /100k
29.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
390 /100k
221 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
703 /100k
968 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
92 /M
38 /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)
179 m
2 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
29 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr