NUTS-3 FRB05 · France
Population
327,4032025
GDP
€11,025M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.9%2025
Active firms
67,7502026
Cadastral parcels
792,5462026
Area
6,411.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRB05 · FRK22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Loir-et-Cher (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Ardèche (53). Contrarian pick: Ardèche — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 90).
Why you might not pick Loir-et-Cher
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 19) — Ardèche may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Loir-et-Cher · Manufacturing → Loir-et-Cher · Office → Ardèche · Residential → Ardèche.
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
55.7
53.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.3
66.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.8
62.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
79.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
33.7
48.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
73.0
89.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.0
51.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.3% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,673
€28,735
Population density
51 /km²
61 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,421
3,848
Firms per 1k pop
207
236
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,845M
€8,633M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€291M
€230M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,002M
€2,131M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,468M
€1,367M
GVA — construction (F)
€688M
€585M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,747M
€1,168M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,500
€24,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,000 PPS
26,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,600
€28,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,283M
€66,409M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,604M
€8,444M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€46,136M
€150,675M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,414M
€1,563M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€103M
€62M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,674M
€2,221M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,442M
€2,298M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,775M
€8,650M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,167
€85,164
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,485M
€2,183M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
130,400
115,800
Self-employed persons
15,200
20,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,700
17,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.3%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
16.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.1%
7.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,500
150,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
20,295
26,504
Enterprise births
2,580
3,219
Enterprise deaths
1,943
2,688
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
3.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
5.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
2.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.4%
49.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.6%
60.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.2%
17.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.6%
34.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.0%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,274,306
5,739,813
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
631 /1k
—
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,361 kt
4,776 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,001
3,890
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
25 km/1000km²
29 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
306
1,155
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
143
115
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
188,070
193,229
Population aged 65+
88,050
91,372
Population aged under 15
51,283
52,158
Median age of population
48.0 yrs
48.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
46.8%
47.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.0 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.2 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
2,671
2,466
Deaths
4,040
4,045
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
74.1%
74.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.68
1.57
Population density (persons per km²)
52 /km²
61 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
270,334
296,936
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.1%
18.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.6 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.0%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
555 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
862 /100k
771 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
34.4 /100k
19.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
543 /100k
306 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,432 /100k
1,054 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
66 /M
47 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
109 m
850 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
14 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
26 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
15 days/yr