NUTS-3 ES640 · Spain
Population
87,0672025
GDP
€1,754M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
24.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
55%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
11.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES640 · BE341
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. Arlon (Opportunity 40). Runner-up: Melilla (16). Contrarian pick: Melilla — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Connectivity (77) · Talent & skills (71)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 34 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Melilla
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Demographic outlook (83)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Arr. Arlon
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 34 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 4) — Melilla may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Arlon 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
16.4
39.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
35.8
61.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
43.1
37.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
30.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.5
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.0
70.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
17.6
45.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.8% 5y
5.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€20,140
€31,066
Population density
7,404 /km²
208 /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)
€1,699M
€1,880M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1M
€12M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€58M
€238M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€17M
€204M
GVA — construction (F)
€85M
€75M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€332M
€377M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€14,900
€27,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
23,000 PPS
27,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€20,500
€31,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€387M
€2,495M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1M
€243M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€1,117M
€4,990M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€328M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€9M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€375M
€467M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€848M
€712M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,649M
€1,742M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€56,124
€104,020
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€439M
€562M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
33,300
20,600
Self-employed persons
4,300
2,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
200
1,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
63.3%
72.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
60.2%
15.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
24.7%
6.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
37,200
32,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,751
—
Enterprise births
495
—
Enterprise deaths
478
—
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.4%
—
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
—
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.0%
43.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.2%
46.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.5%
14.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.0%
27.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.2%
9.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.5%
93.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
133,821
118,922
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
615 /1k
523 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
150 kt
498 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
—
586
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
0 km/1000km²
35 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
—
876
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
35
32
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
58,987
45,259
Population aged 65+
11,039
10,580
Population aged under 15
17,041
11,027
Median age of population
36.7 yrs
39.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
18.7%
23.4%
Crude rate of total population change
12.5 /1k
7.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.3 /1k
5.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
10.1 /1k
Crude death rate
5.0 /1k
8.2 /1k
Live births
795
670
Deaths
434
547
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.6%
47.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
6,180 /km²
209 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
94,454
61,126
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
43.7%
15.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.3 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
39.3%
11.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
193 /100k
390 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,062 /100k
1,045 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
235 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
123 /100k
66.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
119 /100k
506 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
315 /100k
1,180 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
11 /M
93 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
51 m
372 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
21 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
59 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr