NUTS-3 FRC13 · France
Population
548,8442025
GDP
€18,460M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75.5%2025
Active firms
116,6802026
Cadastral parcels
1,322,4922026
Area
8,618.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRC13 · FRD12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saône-et-Loire (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Manche (49). Contrarian pick: Manche — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 71).
Why you might not pick Saône-et-Loire
Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 16) — Manche may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Saône-et-Loire · Manufacturing → Saône-et-Loire · Office → Manche · Residential → Manche .
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
51.9
49.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.5
61.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
44.2
45.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
67.3
71.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
32.0
20.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
53.0
61.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.4
46.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.1% 5y
1.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,635
€34,429
Population density
64 /km²
83 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,410
2,085
Firms per 1k pop
213
202
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€16,487M
€15,301M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€700M
€615M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,418M
€3,963M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,097M
€2,841M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,137M
€1,122M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,784M
€2,233M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,100
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,000 PPS
31,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,700
€34,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,851M
€11,208M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,525M
€1,469M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€28,666M
€26,527M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,573M
€2,054M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€161M
€158M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,198M
€3,490M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,251M
€3,878M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€16,415M
€15,230M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,223
€83,755
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,155M
€3,818M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
218,200
208,600
Self-employed persons
28,300
25,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
31,200
34,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.3%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.2%
15.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
233,700
218,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
35,588
28,386
Enterprise births
4,492
3,254
Enterprise deaths
3,556
2,627
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
5.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.7%
2.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.1%
39.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.8%
50.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
12.3%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.3%
26.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.7%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.3%
90.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,104,650
3,213,459
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
13,788 kt
10,071 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,711
1,061
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
22 km/1000km²
16 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
312
213
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
112
241
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)
311,970
285,826
Population aged 65+
153,240
136,561
Population aged under 15
83,634
75,541
Median age of population
48.9 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
49.1%
47.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.6 /1k
0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.3 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
4,094
3,948
Deaths
6,788
6,152
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
75.9%
74.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
64 /km²
83 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
457,849
411,661
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.4%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.4 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.1%
12.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
632 /100k
557 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
864 /100k
894 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.8 /100k
20.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
388 /100k
269 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,125 /100k
931 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
62 /M
63 /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)
357 m
67 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
12 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
4 days/yr