NUTS-3 FRE21 · France
Population
518,5832025
GDP
€15,037M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.3%2025
Active firms
85,0122026
Cadastral parcels
999,4482026
Area
7,414.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRE21 · FRG04
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Aisne (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Sarthe (54). Contrarian pick: Sarthe — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 81).
#1Aisne
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Freight intensity (69)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Sarthe
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (81)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Aisne
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 20) — Sarthe may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Aisne · Manufacturing → Sarthe · Office → Sarthe · Residential → Sarthe.
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
59.1
54.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.5
66.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.4
53.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
63.7
81.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.7
33.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
50.3
72.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.8
33.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
0.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€28,996
€31,627
Population density
70 /km²
90 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,927
1,394
Firms per 1k pop
164
174
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,410M
€15,970M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€871M
€459M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,307M
€2,978M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,116M
€2,757M
GVA — construction (F)
€757M
€991M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,045M
€2,855M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,900
€23,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,500 PPS
29,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,800
€31,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,339M
€32,580M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,885M
€4,197M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€30,350M
€79,082M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,068M
€2,384M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€65M
€200M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,335M
€4,424M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,095M
€4,265M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,369M
€16,060M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,372
€78,826
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,352M
€4,006M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
175,400
231,200
Self-employed persons
18,300
22,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,500
35,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.1%
77.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
28.2%
16.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.4%
6.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
227,300
258,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
24,696
28,733
Enterprise births
3,241
3,921
Enterprise deaths
2,541
2,972
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.5%
42.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.3%
54.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
16.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.6%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
8.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.8%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,883,573
1,423,700
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
611 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,703
2,142
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
19,459 kt
16,189 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
23 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
521
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
91
175
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
309,732
334,744
Population aged 65+
117,697
135,972
Population aged under 15
91,154
94,687
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.0%
40.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.8 /1k
-1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.9 /1k
0.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.9 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
4,696
5,088
Deaths
5,674
6,021
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.4%
68.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.70
Population density (persons per km²)
70 /km²
91 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
440,527
488,143
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
15.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
11.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
545 /100k
450 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
977 /100k
799 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
223 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.7 /100k
57.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
447 /100k
485 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,494 /100k
1,302 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
54 /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)
70 m
108 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
27 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr