NUTS-3 FRC23 · France
Population
231,8182025
GDP
€6,093M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.7%2025
Active firms
46,1112026
Cadastral parcels
719,3062026
Area
5,392.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRC23 · FRK13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Haute-Loire (Opportunity 43). Runner-up: Haute-Saône (38). Contrarian pick: Haute-Saône — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 70).
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (72)
Red flags
Growth momentum (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Haute-Loire
Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 27) — Haute-Saône may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Haute-Loire 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
37.8
42.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.3
69.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.9
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
71.7
83.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
33.0
35.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.5
64.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
12.2
33.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.0% 5y
2.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€26,284
€29,191
Population density
43 /km²
46 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,103
5,391
Firms per 1k pop
199
233
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,442M
€5,971M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€219M
€197M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,280M
€1,325M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,208M
€1,180M
GVA — construction (F)
€318M
€452M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€720M
€805M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,700
€23,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,100 PPS
27,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€26,100
€29,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,575M
€10,591M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,453M
€1,415M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,541M
€23,857M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,035M
€1,180M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€27M
€44M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,451M
€1,646M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,454M
€1,547M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,431M
€5,948M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,701
€78,237
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,407M
€1,523M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
78,900
87,100
Self-employed persons
10,500
14,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,400
14,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.5%
77.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.5%
19.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.1%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
99,400
103,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,017
16,814
Enterprise births
1,632
1,945
Enterprise deaths
1,321
1,513
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.7%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.7%
2.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.5%
3.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.8%
40.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.2%
46.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.7%
15.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
26.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.8%
7.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
333,731
831,101
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,787 kt
5,913 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
539
917
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
13 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
233
400
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
108
93
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
135,767
132,669
Population aged 65+
59,470
60,886
Population aged under 15
36,581
35,516
Median age of population
47.5 yrs
48.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.8%
45.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.9 /1k
1.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.8 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
11.3 /1k
11.7 /1k
Live births
1,784
1,729
Deaths
2,625
2,683
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
70.7%
72.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.65
1.60
Population density (persons per km²)
43 /km²
46 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
180,628
202,553
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.4%
22.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
82.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.1%
17.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
506 /100k
660 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
871 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.9 /100k
16.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
310 /100k
267 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,136 /100k
809 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
64 /M
64 /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)
213 m
751 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
13 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
49 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr