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 · FRI34
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Aisne (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Vienne (50). Contrarian pick: Vienne — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 88).
#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)
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) — Vienne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Aisne 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
59.1
50.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.5
48.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.4
48.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
63.7
54.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.7
33.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
50.3
67.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.8
47.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
3.1% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
5.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€28,996
€37,685
Population density
70 /km²
62 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,927
2,404
Firms per 1k pop
164
207
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,410M
€14,693M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€871M
€374M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,307M
€3,300M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,116M
€2,033M
GVA — construction (F)
€757M
€794M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,045M
€2,017M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,900
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,500 PPS
34,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,800
€37,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,339M
€14,628M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,885M
€1,666M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€30,350M
€31,119M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,068M
€1,982M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€65M
€206M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,335M
€3,647M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,095M
€4,562M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,369M
€14,667M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,372
€92,331
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,352M
€3,802M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
175,400
181,900
Self-employed persons
18,300
20,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,500
17,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.1%
74.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
28.2%
19.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.4%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
227,300
195,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
24,696
26,549
Enterprise births
3,241
3,610
Enterprise deaths
2,541
2,786
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
1.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.5%
40.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.3%
46.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
13.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.6%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
8.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.8%
95.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,883,573
3,652,108
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
19,459 kt
12,425 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,703
2,679
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
521
613
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
91
218
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
265,018
Population aged 65+
117,697
105,097
Population aged under 15
91,154
67,177
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
44.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.0%
39.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.8 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.9 /1k
0.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.9 /1k
10.9 /1k
Live births
4,696
3,631
Deaths
5,674
4,774
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.4%
65.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
70 /km²
62 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
440,527
470,732
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
17.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.5%
13.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
545 /100k
493 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
977 /100k
848 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
226 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.7 /100k
43.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
447 /100k
505 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,494 /100k
1,435 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
54 /M
68 /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
136 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
17 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
25 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr