NUTS-3 FRC24 · France
Population
140,1112025
GDP
€4,530M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.7%2025
Active firms
25,0982026
Cadastral parcels
137,5482026
Area
608 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRC24 · DE275
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Aichach-Friedberg (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Territoire de Belfort (39). Contrarian pick: Territoire de Belfort — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Freight intensity (80)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Connectivity (69)
Red flags
Growth momentum (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Aichach-Friedberg
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Territoire de Belfort may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Aichach-Friedberg 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
39.0
56.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
41.5
75.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.4
68.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
59.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.0
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.5
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
12.6
46.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.0% 5y
11.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,334
€35,217
Population density
230 /km²
176 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
982
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
179
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,047M
€4,401M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€24M
€110M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€728M
€1,018M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€700M
€897M
GVA — construction (F)
€191M
€383M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€652M
€950M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,700
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,300 PPS
31,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,900
€35,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,575M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,453M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€19,541M
€49,117M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€747M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€101M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,257M
€1,164M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,196M
€776M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,038M
€4,111M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,500
€90,173
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,046M
€1,096M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
54,000
55,920
Self-employed persons
4,900
6,890
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,000
11,940
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.5%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.5%
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.1%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
63,100
77,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,360
6,150
Enterprise births
996
459
Enterprise deaths
798
506
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
3.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.7%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.5%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.8%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.2%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.7%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.8%
9.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
309,330
167,123
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
639 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,020
818
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,505 kt
6,096 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
728
598
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
13 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
54
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
86,273
86,125
Population aged 65+
30,480
29,375
Population aged under 15
23,358
21,303
Median age of population
42.8 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.3%
34.1%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.4 /1k
2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.7 /1k
3.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
9.7 /1k
Live births
1,214
1,179
Deaths
1,369
1,327
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.4%
58.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.54
Population density (persons per km²)
233 /km²
176 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
123,753
134,433
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.4%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.1%
11.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
506 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
7.1 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
176 /100k
9.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,029 /100k
97.5 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
4,590 /100k
422 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
64 /M
39 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
360 m
463 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
65 days/yr
80 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
4 days/yr